The Aftermath
by Naomi Pictogreen
Summary: Post-Tartarus/After 416/cursing/violence When the guild was disbanded everyone went their separate ways, some without a word, others only a letter. But Lucy, Wendy, and Carla were some of the last to leave. Their journey will change them as well as set into motion unforeseen forces and fateful encounters. Not only will they be struggling with enemies this time, but also themselves.
1. Chapter 1- Aftermath

The sun had just set in Magnolia bathing the city in a cold blue, making the shadows of the destroyed buildings far longer and deeper than they should have been, but they weren't in any way ominous though. They were just mere shadows.  
Lucy watched the town through her window, purposefully avoiding looking at the water of the canal, but her mind was rather far away. She was thinking of what she was going to do. She was originally going to go train by taking jobs, but now there was a lack of stable income to worry about as well as the lack of a guild. If anything she had about two weeks left before having to pay rent, but she was likely going to have to move.  
Looking to her bed where a head of blue hair could be seen, she knew she would also have to worry about Wendy's and Carla's needs now.  
Pouring herself more raspberry tea, she drank a hefty amount of the scalding liquid before putting it down. Sighing, she got up from the couch and walked over to her desk and sat down. Grabbing a few sheets of paper, she dipped her quill in her homemade never-drying- ink well, it kept her ink fresh and it had a charm to prevent the ink from spilling. It was a necessity after the one time Natsu spilled ink all over her novel.  
Stopping her train of thought before it led to roads she rather not travel, she set her tip to paper and began to write.

' _It was the second week after the fall of Tartarus and the death of the dragons. We all thought that this was our guild's greatest hurdle, but perhaps we were just not prepared for the following aftermath. I mean it does sound like something particularly simple and maybe it is, but the disbanding of Fairy Tail did not feel simple though. We were left dumbstruck and confused, but most of all I think we were angry. Honestly, we had just recovered from the battle against Tartarus, it felt like the last thing we needed or wanted at the time was to have our family split apart.  
_ _It was too late though. Natsu left first. Erza, Gray, and Juvia soon left as well. I'm not sure if they even know the guild disbanded, they weren't at the announcement.  
_ _Our family was falling apart at the seams.  
_ _I remember trying not to break down in sobs, to wait till I got home, but then I saw Wendy. She was curled up on the ground, her face practically being pushed into the dirt from the force of her sobs, and I realized this was probably harder for her than it was for me. She was only 12 and she was already losing her family for the third time. First Grandeeney, Cait Shelter, and now... Fairy Tail.  
_ _I vowed to myself in that moment that I would watch over her in Fairy Tail's absence if she let me, and as any good celestial mage I will always keep my word.'_

Pausing, she looked back over to Wendy. Wendy looked exhausted even while sleeping. Her skin was pale and red from crying, but what stuck out the most was the deep frown marring her innocent face. She didn't deserve this. Having to worry that her next family would leave her again, no one that young should have to have that worry.  
Lucy was more angry at the guild than she was sad at its disbandment though. How could they practically leave Wendy and Carla behind? They were still children by law, they could not legally take care of themselves. Not only that, but despite all the battles and things Wendy has seen or experienced there are many things she still has to learn. She was still rather naïve and innocent, she was only twelve after all.  
If Lucy was being honest with herself, she was also upset that many of her family left without any goodbyes, and those that did they were vague at best. Lucy knew things wouldn't be the same after Tartarus, especially after losing Aquarius, but this was almost too much. All she wanted to do was break down and cry, but right now she needed to be strong for Wendy and Carla even though she was practically drowning in her emotions.  
Turning back to look at her paper, she felt tears coming to her eyes. It was just so damn unfair. None of them deserved this. Why did Master have to disband the guild? She couldn't make heads or tails as to why and it was driving her ragged. She wanted to know so badly, but unless she found the Master she wouldn't know. Now that she thought about it she couldn't call him Master anymore. That thought caused her vision to blur as tears threatened to fall. She squeezed the quill in her hand trying to stop the trembling that started in her hands.  
Small hands snook around her neck, hugging her from behind. While shocked to find Wendy awake she put her quill down and turned around to hug the young girl.  
Wendy simply just buried her face in Lucy's neck as they both silently cried. It was hard for the young girl to accept the disbandment, and she was so grateful that Lucy was still there. Even though she knew Carla wouldn't leave her, it wasn't the same as having Lucy there with her, and she hoped, prayed, that she could accompany the celestial mage wherever she decided to go.  
So many people had already left, and she was pretty sure they were some of the last Fairy Tail mages in Magnolia. She also didn't have anywhere else to stay since Fairy Hills was also closed now that Fairy Tail is gone. While she new that Lucy would most likely let her stay with her like she was now, she still held that one mounting fear that Lucy would say no.  
Since first meeting Lucy she began to see her as an older sister, but she feared what Lucy might think if she told her. Lucy seemed to return the same sentiment as well and often indulges her in sweets and other stuff, but Lucy was generally a nice person who liked to give gifts to others.  
Pulling away from Wendy, Lucy wiped away some lingering tears from her eyes before looking at Wendy again. Taking a calming breath to sooth her nerves she rested her hand on the shoulder of the sniffling girl. Watching as Wendy calmed down a little she thought of what she wanted to say. Obviously she would need somewhere to stay and she honestly would love it if Wendy lived with her, but they would need to find some form of income soon or leave. She could probably ask Virgo to hold anything of Wendy's that they didn't have space for, and... now she was getting ahead of herself.  
"Wendy" She spoke softly to gain the girl's attention and to maybe help calm her down more. "I've been thinking that since Fairy Hills is likely to be shut down you should live with me." Realizing she sounded like she was demanding her to stay with her, she began to panic and tried to frantically explain herself. "I mean not to sound demanding! But with the guild gone and everyone leav- oof!"  
As soon as Wendy heard Lucy ask her to stay she was ecstatic, and she stopped her mid sentence by tackling Lucy to the floor while hugging her neck.  
"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!"  
Realizing she practically slammed Lucy into the floor, she quickly scrambled off her. "I'm so sorry! I just got so excited that I didn't think and tackled you to the floor, and now you're probably mad. I really didn't mean to do that! I-I... please don't be mad at me!"  
Wendy clenched her hands together in front of her as she berated herself. Why did she have to do that? She could have just said thank you or yes, but did she have to tackle her? God, she was such an idiot! Lucy was probably not going to want her to stay with her now and-  
There was a giggle. A giggle.  
Looking up from the floor (when did I look down?) Wendy's eyes widened in surprise. Lucy was laughing. It was a real laugh. It was nice hearing her laugh again. She hadn't laughed in awhile.  
"It's fine Wendy. I'm not mad at you." Lucy sent her a kind smile hoping to ease the young mage.  
Wendy felt her anxiety leave her all at once and instantly felt foolish. She knew Lucy wouldn't get mad at her for simply hugging her in her excitement, but she let her insecurities get the best of her. Besides if Lucy didn't want her around she wouldn't have asked Wendy to accompany her, she knew that.  
Seeing Wendy relax, Lucy pulled herself up from the floor and stood up facing the younger girl. Even though she was genuinely smiling she was internally frowning. Wendy's belief that she would be mad her for simply hugging her struck a chord in her, and it wasn't a good sign. Wendy's faith in her self worth and friends was dwindling. Lucy felt her anger and sprouting resentment towards her fellow ex-members growing. She still couldn't believe the ignorance of them! Leaving Wendy and Carla to fend for themselves while they left, completely forgetting that Wendy and Carla have no one to look after them was unacceptable! They speak of family yet they leave some behind! Uh, it just infuriated her!  
Stuffing away her growing ire with her family she stepped forward and pulled Wendy into an embrace. She felt in her gut that the young mage needed all the reassurance she wasn't alone, and besides Lucy was glad Wendy and Carla were going to be staying with her. She didn't feel so lonely right now.  
Wendy snuggled into Lucy and hugged her around her waist. It felt nice to be hugged. She felt so warm and fuzzy, like she was loved. She truly saw Lucy as an older sister.  
They stayed like that for a few minutes before they were interrupted by a loud yawn. Separating the looked over to see Carla looking over at them still in a sleep induced daze from the pink comforter on Lucy's bed.  
Blinking lazily to clear out the last vestiges of sleep, she examined the two mages standing in the middle of the light pink bedroom. Both their eyes were slightly puffy like they were crying as well as small gentle smiles on their faces. Carla blinked in surprise at their expressions. They giggled at her blank expression causing the exceeds white ears to twitch.  
"Did you have a good nap Carla?"  
Looking over to the Celestial mage, she merely nodded her head. Thinking it over a second she realized that was one of the best sleeps she's ever had. "What kind of bed is this? It's like a cloud."  
"Is it really that soft? I mean Natsu, Erza, Happy, and Gray say that all the time, but I thought they were just exaggerating."  
Cocking her head to the side, Wendy sat down on the bed and pushed down on it slightly with her hands. Realizing it really was the softest mattress she ever felt, she fell back and snuggled into the comforter. She turned her head to look back at Lucy. "It really is super soft, Lucy! What's it made of?"  
Putting her hand under her chin, Lucy tried to remember where she got the mattress. It hadn't always been this soft. Honestly, it use to be rather hard and it felt like sleeping on an ironing board. "I actually don't remember."  
Both girls sent Lucy a curious looks. "Really?" Asked Wendy.  
"Yeah, and now that I think about it, it wasn't always this soft either."  
"What! How could you not know?!"  
Turning to look at the exceed she shrugged her shoulders. "Honestly, I think I bought it from a yard sale for like five jewels. It was pretty old and had stains."  
Hearing this both mages scrabbled to get off the bed, but got tangled in the comforter instead. They fell of the bed to the carpet with a loud thud. Shooting disgusted looks to the bed, they looked back at Lucy with surprise and confusion. Why anyone would sleep on used disgusting mattress like that was beyond them.  
"What possessed you to sleep on a bed like that you stupid girl?!" Exclaimed the disgusted exceed.  
"Well, it was the only mattress that fit my budget at the time. This apartment isn't cheap you know." Suddenly growing a little irritated over all the money problems she's had since living here, she sat down on the couch. Running a hand through her blonde hair, she sighed from exasperation. All of this conversation reminded her was that Natsu left, the guild disbanded, and now she had rent to worry about!  
She felt like the world was out to get her at this point, and honestly she felt like giving up. It was too much. Not just this but everything, especially the loss of Aquarius. Lucy would admit to anyone that knew of what happened that she was avoiding the issue, burying it down and throwing down slabs of distractions. She felt that if she were to stop for too long she would drown and this time there was no one to save her.  
Feeling the couch dip next to her she saw Wendy and Carla giving her a concerned look. Seeing them she immediately killed her inner thoughts and threw them down an abyss. There was no need for that depressing crap. For a moment she idly wondered if she was depressed, but she threw that thought out immediately. She had no time to be depressed! She had to take care of Wendy and Carla and train!  
Feeling satisfied with her inner pep talk she returned to reality to find Wendy waving her hand in front of her face trying to get her attention. Flinching in surprise she sent the other two apologetic looks.

Wendy and Carla were still concerned but let it drop. They were pretty sure that whatever brought that blank look to Lucy's face was rather personal and they didn't want to pry.  
Thinking back over the past hour, Lucy realized she had forgotten to talk to Wendy and Carla about what they were going to have to do now. Turning she faced the two mages.  
"So, since Wendy has agreed to stay with me, I was wondering if you were going to be staying with us too Carla?"  
Blinking in surprise, Carla sent the celestial mage an incredulous look. "Of course I'm staying with you. Do honestly think either of you are going to survive on your own without me? You both are bound to do something incredibly stupid and get yourselves killed. Humph." Glaring at the two she huffed a second time exuding a superior aura.  
Nodding in agreement despite the obvious insult, Lucy took it in stride, they didn't have time to argue. "So now that we got that out of the way, what are we going to do now? I only have two weeks left before my rent is due, so that leaves us until then to get ready or decide what we're going to do."  
"I'm not sure, but I don't think we should stay in Magnolia. What do you think Carla?"  
"You're right Wendy, but I think we should also train. You just gained the ability to use Dragon Force you need to learn to use it without great physical or magical drain."  
Looking to Wendy in amazement and surprise Lucy examined Wendy with a critical eye, before nodding in agreement. "So we leave in two weeks. We travel and train, but what do we do about money? We could take jobs posted on different town boards for freelance mages, but that will only get us so far."  
Sighing in resignation, Carla nodded in agreement. It was honestly the best plan they had besides if they needed to they could fish and hunt for food. Blinking in realization, Carla remembered Wendy's and her apartment at Fairy Hills still held all their stuff.  
"It will have to do for now." Wendy said coming to the same conclusion. "Besides at least we have a plan. That's better than nothing."  
"You're right Wendy." Lucy stood and turned to face them before suddenly clapping her hands together. "Okay, so what do we do now?"  
Fidgeting, Carla felt a little embarrassed. "Well, considering Fairy Hills is likely to be closed we need a place to hold all our stuff. Um... can you hold our stuff for us?" A light blush rose the exceeds cheeks as she felt the amused gaze of Wendy and Lucy.  
"I'm actually glad you brought that up. I was thinking of asking Virgo to hold all of your stuff and my stuff in the Celestial World till we have a permanent residence. Is that alright with you two?"  
Receiving both nods in agreement, she turned picking up the cold tea kettle and cup. She carried them to the kitchen and put them in the sink to be washed later. Now they had plans to put in motion.


	2. Chapter 2- Laxus

Thank you for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! When I first began writing this story and posted it I didn't expect the level of response I got. silentlyfallen, Fijimaru, Raiza-chan, and kurahieiritr Jio- Thank you for your reviews!

I've been planning this story for some time, and I hope you find it enjoyable!

 _ **Warning!**_ _ **\- I am a junior honor high school student, so I am likely going to have a hard time updating this story; however, I plan on trying to write and post at least one chapter a week.**_

I appreciate all constructive criticism, and I enjoy any feedback I get so I can improve or add things to this story.

I plan on writing this story in three arcs, but that can change if the story doesn't go that way.

0o..(~.~)..o0

If there was anything he wanted most in the world, it would be to turn the fucking sun off. This was just mother fucking ridiculous! He had already stripped out of his coat and shirt yet for the life of him it felt like it was only getting hotter.

Laxus knew he should have taken the train. Motion sickness be damned!

Not only that he had ran out of water and he was lost. Lost in a desert, with no water, alone.

Of all the places to get lost in why a desert?! He knew he had a horrible sense of direction. He _knew_. So what on God's green Earth possessed him to travel through the desert you may ask?

His failure.

It was his way of training. An incredibly stupid way of training now that he thought about it, but there was no turning back. No that would have been three days ago.

He tossed the idea of Lightning travel through his mind, before throwing it out. He got himself into this mess, and he wasn't going to just take the fucking easy way out! Laxus blamed his stubbornness on his Gramps. Who was the one person he wanted to yell at the most besides himself. Who in the hell did that old man think he was?! Right he was the guild master, someone who rallied and held Fairy Tail together no matter the situation, but then he goes and disbands the guild. To top it all off he disappears without a trace, literally vanishing into thin air. With the cloud of smoke and sparkles too which in reality didn't help the situation. All it did was make it worse. Like this whole thing was some sort of sick fucking joke where he would just appear out behind us and shout "Just Kidding!" with a stupid jester's hat on while doing some creepy dance with another stupid creepy ass grin on his face.

Fuck it. All this was doing was making him mad, and he didn't really want to listen to his Soundpods to calm down. It was too hot to listen to music. Not even AC-DC would be able to help at this point.

It was the fourth week since he woke up from the coma he was in due to the Barrier Particles. The fourth week since he found out that almost all of the town of Hargeon had been infected. The fourth week since a good quarter of them died of Magic Deficiency Syndrome. Even those who didn't have magic died almost instantaneously.

Last he had heard Porlyusica was there administering antidotes to the infected within the quarantine zone. He remembered sucking in as many particles as possible even as they felt agonizingly painful. It wasn't as painful as when his Lacrima was implanted in him, nothing would ever be that..that... he couldn't even think of word to describe what that had felt like and he didn't think there ever would be. It was like being torn apart and put back together repeatedly while something other than himself slithered in making room for itself and constantly demanded to have its way. There was nothing like it. He was told it was less than hour before he fell unconscious, but he wasn't unconscious. It was just too much to do anything, to think anything. Even to do nothing was impossible, but the indescribable pain, the _pain_ , did not vanish. It had kept him awake and painstakingly aware. It was like whatever had made room for itself wanted him to suffer. To _know_ pain. To _know_ the fear that he was helpless.

That was the exact reason why he hated helplessness. It made him feel _weak,_ and he hated it.

It was also why he left the Raijinshuu at Blue Pegasus. He couldn't let them get hurt because of his weakness. He couldn't let them... see. His weakness, his utter shame, his hate for his failure. It was like Fantasia all over again. Like a constant cycle that ended with the same result. Never changing in the ending. It was this one constant that never left him, this _failure_.

He looked down at the palm of his hand. It was calloused from years of training with small creases were the skin would fold when he closed it. He had looked at his hands so much they were carved into his memory. Hands that had hurt his family. Hands that had failed when it mattered. Hands that... were also shaking.

The shaking in his hands had started after he woke up and it hadn't stopped. He clenched his fist, but it still shook. He shoved his hand into his pants pocket and trudged on. It wasn't the first time they shook.

Glaringly white desert is what his eyes saw. It was never ending, a deceiving landscape. Hundred foot sand dunes stretched out across the desert, casting deep dark shadows. There had been no wind for the past three days, and he didn't know what that meant. Whenever he took missions they were usually in the mountains or the forest, he wasn't even sure how he managed to find a desert in Fiore.

Somehow he did though, and now he was lost, without water, alone.

He could feel his skin baking under the sun, crackling with acidic heat, and he knew he should probably cover his skin. It wouldn't work though. All his clothes had sand in them somehow, and if he were to put his raw skin onto the fabric the movement of his walking would cause the fabric to shift. The shifting the fabric would be painful, but he could handle that. The problem is that there was salt in this sand apparently, and it would be quite literally rubbing salt in the wounds.

It was high noon, nearing the hottest part of the day. Just great fucking fantastic! All he needed was a more severe sunburn courtesy of the sadistic mother fucker known as the sun.

He licked his cracked dry lips, hoping that he wasn't getting close to heat stroke or dying of dehydration. Out of all the ways to die, those would be the stupidest way for him to die. It would be mockery to everything! That after everything, the one thing that would bring him down was his own ignorance, not arrogance nor his once twisted idea of the world, but being unprepared. He was always unprepared in some way. Just never quite had what he needed to succeed when it mattered.

There was a soft rumbling coming from the west. Like thunder far off in the distance, but growing louder. Laxus stopped, his feet sinking slightly into the fine grain of sand, and looked around.

He felt the soft caress of a hot wind across his back, and he heard the whistling roar of a breeze. It was so quiet in the desert any sound felt extraordinarily loud. He tensed in surprise. There hadn't been any wind for three days, none, zero. With the wind came the ever growing roar and he turned around.

Behind him, maybe a few miles, was a massive wall of sand and it was approaching fast. Glancing around hurriedly, Laxus thought of anything that would be able to get him out of this storm. The only thing that came to mind though was to hunker down and wait it out. The only problem with that was there wasn't anywhere to hide.

Pulling a button up shirt out of his travel bag he wrapped it around his head like a turban and mask. He was trying to keep the sand out of his lungs and it was one of the few things he had on hand that would work. A stronger gust of wind whipped through the desert kicking up sand and he clutched to the shirt on his head trying to keep it from flying off. Looking behind him again he could see that the sand wall had traveled about half the distance in a few seconds. Feeling the tendrils of panic starting to slither in he turned back around only to be thrown face first into the sand from another peal of wind. The roaring sound now sounded like it was thundering in his ears. It was too close.

Ignoring the gritty sand in his mouth he reached for his bag again. When he didn't find it at first the panic snook in a little more. Finding it about a foot in front of his face he pulled out his favorite fur lined coat and draped it around himself. He pressed himself as close to the ground as possible and hoped the storm would pass soon.

It was frustrating to just have to sit there and wait out this Sandstorm. The roaring and ripping sound of the wind made his ears ring in pain.

Suddenly he was practically slammed down and forward into the ground. He could feel the sand pounding into his back. It was painful as the salty sand got smeared into his raw and burned skin. He grunted and tried to ignore the pain. The sound. The world.

He blocked it all out and focused on his breathing, his heartbeat. _Badump. Badump._

He found himself becoming drowsy, tired from the brutal beating of the desert. He knew he shouldn't fall asleep at the moment because he would likely due by being buried by sand, but he couldn't find it in himself to care at the moment. He was too tired to.

With that last thought along with the lingering physical pain and emotional turmoil, Laxus fell asleep.

'~~~~'

"Oi! Carcillo! The sandstorms passed!"

Turning to the young lad, Dimitri, Carcillo tiredly glared at him where he stood holding open the canvas flap of the tent. While glad the storms had passed he was irritated by the good mood of the young lad. He was having a lovely dream about his lovely lady friends back in Kimaro. Oh what exotic nights he had when they were there!

But now was the time of hunting. Not hunting as in for food, but hunting for Fulgurite. Also known as fossilized lightning. It was a sneaky little fossil to find, but it was what brought in the doe.

Rolling off the matt on the floor, he pushed himself up onto his elbows.

"You know it's too damn early for that mood, brat."

Smiling brightly, despite Carcillo's complaint, Dimitri ran out of the tent into the crisp air of early morning.

Pushing himself up, Carcillo rolled up the matt and stuffed it into his pack. Walking out into the cold desert morning air, it was maybe a few hours before dawn. Only a few hours before the scorching sun marked it's angry rays upon the white sand dunes.

Sighing in annoyance, he scratched his bristly beard. If anything he knew he would stick out like a sore thumb in this desert with his skin tone, and thus he would get more sun. Yay!

Carcillo was a short slender man of 5" 2. He was rather young, only in his late twenties, but he was the leader of this caravan. The title of leader was passed down from one generation to the next, teaching the young the traditions of old. His father passed away six years ago.

His skin was a rather dark walnut color and his head was bald, but he had been growing himself a beard as of late due to neglect. A beige colored tunic, a pair of pig leather pants, and old worn leather traveling boots completed his ensemble. Swirling black tattoos started at the sides of his head and ended at his lower back, they were symbols of his status in his clan.

Quickly packing away his small canvas tent, he whistled signaling they were moving out soon. Walking to his custom Sand Speeder, he opened a side compartment inside the cockpit and threw his pack inside before snapping it shut.

Stepping back he examined his vehicle for any signs of damage. It was a narrow vehicle made up of light alloys and new Magina Sails. It was roughly nine feet long and three feet wide, and painted a alabaster white with cranberry red engravings along the nose and rear. It was the shape of a bullet and made for speed and quick maneuvering. Tucked into compartments on either side were the Magina Sails that would give the craft speed and maneuverability.

Magina Sails were a type of synthetic lacrima membrane that when powered by magic would push the air behind it or in front of it thus creating speed. A special sonic magic thruster was at the back of the Sand Speeder for emergencies since it drained heavily on the magic fuel. It was an extremely efficient vehicle that replaced the old method of using animals.

It was the most absolutely thrilling thing Carcillo had ever experienced. It gave him an adrenaline rush every time he rode the thing. Smiling in excitement, Carcillo put his hand on the cool metal and gently brushed his fingers along the outside of the craft.

Turning away from his prized beauty, he saw that the rest of the crew were ready to go. Walking to hitch the sled that would hold any of the fulgurite they found to the back of his speeder, he felt his horrible morning mood dissipating. Out of everything in the world the one thing that would forever pull his mood up was his Sand Speeder. Flinging himself into the cockpit, Carcillo whistled a short three note tune and with that they started their engines. Putting his hands on the Lacrima sensors, that were two floating spheres that were specifically coded to specific pilots, he turned them a quarter to the left and pushed down. The Speeder's engine roared to life and the sails extended full length. At full length they were six feet long and separated into twelve sections that were connected by magnetic fields. Using this method for the sails cut down on the drag as well as making it easier to maneuver through tight spaces.

The Sand Speeders purred quietly, and the exhilaration of the speed this baby could give shot through all twelve men`s minds. There was nothing like it in the world to them. It was a specially crafted vehicle from their home village, and the central government had yet to get a whiff of it. That was how they preferred it to stay.

Suddenly they shot off with the opening of their sails and the blinding red glow of the engravings; all that could be seen was streaks of white, red, and clouds of sand.

Looking down at his scanner on his left consul, he could clearly see where the edge of the thunderstorm was. He corrected his course and in less than an hour they reached it. It seemed that the storm had already moved on during their ride, but they wouldn't need to chase the storm till after they scoured the sand for the fulgurite. Dawn was approaching fast and the sky was already turning a blue violet color. As they got closer they began to slow down, but then all of a sudden a Sand Speeder shot forward leaving them in a cloud of sand.

Realizing that was Dimitri, Carcillo turned the spheres sixty degrees down and he shot forward after the reckless boy. Dimitri was the first to get off his Speeder, and before he could call out to the lad, Dimitri stopped. They saw Dimitri fall to his knees and start digging into the sand. It made no sense, the only way to look for the Fulgurite was to bring out the scanners that were specifically tuned to look for residual electricity and abnormal concentrations of electricity.

Quickly slowing down and swerving the speeder to the side of the boy he prepared himself to receive all nonsense for answers. Suddenly remembering that the boy had the uncommon ability to sense magic, Carcillo quickly jumped out of his Speeder not even bothering to turn it off. If there was one thing he knew, it was that whatever had gotten Dimitri to move that fast must be rather serious.

Running over and then sliding to his knees next to the boy, he too began digging. After a few seconds he felt his hands hit something soft that was most definitely not sand. Pushing aside more sand, he began to see the dark fabric of a coat. A few more men pulled up aside them and quickly joined the two and together they unburied whoever this was. When they finally got enough sand off the coat, Dimitri pulled back the coat to reveal a man.

The first thing they saw was a badly sun burned back that was bleeding in some places and had sand sticking to the raw skin. Not receiving any reaction Carcillo began to panic. Fearing that whoever this person was might be dead, he quickly yet carefully rolled the person over. He was clearly a man, a well built one at that, but he couldn't see his face; it was covered up by a shirt that was wrapped around the man's head. Ignoring his curiosity about who this was he put his hand to the shirtless man`s neck to see if there was a pulse.

Sighing in relief that there was a steady pulse, he reached up to pull back the man`s shirt from his face. The first thing he noticed was the scar, not only that, but his face was extremely familiar. The man was in his early twenties with blonde hair that was sticking up in all different directions. Dark bags were under his eyes and his face was set in a deep frown. He knew who this man was when he looked down slightly and caught a glimpse of the black swirling tribal tattoo surrounding the black mark of the mage guild Fairy Tail. Adding together the fact that this man had been all over the Lacrima Vision for months, he knew exactly who this was. This person here was Laxus Dreyar.

 **0o..(~.~)..o0**

 **I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I tried to write Laxus`s point of view as best as I could, but I don't know if I made him too OC. The next chapter we will be going back to Lucy, Wendy, and Carla. I have been working on the chapter for the past week and have been having saving problems. By the way I don't have a beta, so the only person checking for mistakes is me and spell check. Well, I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Sorry if you don't like the OC I added, but they are rather important to the development of the characters.**

 **On a side note, fulgurite is an actually real. It occurs when lightning hits sand, and due to the exceedingly high temperature of the plasma it instantly melts the sand turning it into glass. The outside texture is rough while the inside is smooth and hollow.**

 _ **(This chapter was edited- 9-25-2015)**_


	3. Chapter 3- Lucy-The coffee shop

**Surprise! I decided to update sooner, but don't expect updates to be so close together. Thank you kurahieritr Jio for your review, and I must say I absolutely love your stories!**

 **For those who read chapter two I changed some of the last half of that chapter so I recommend going and reading it.**

 **Thank you to everyone who has taken time out of their lives to read this and I hope you enjoy it!**

 **Some of the stuff in this chapter I might be wrong about(please tell me if it is so I can fix it). I was going off my personal experience for specific information.**

 **Now without further a due Chapter Three!**

 **0o..(~.~)..o0**

Two weeks passed rather quickly for three, and they soon found themselves traveling east by foot to the next town. The town was rather small, having roughly three hundred citizens. Many of the citizens were farmers, and only one part of the town had any form of stores and that was the center of town. It was just a few stores along a single cobblestone road on a hill. It was designed this way specifically because during the rainy season the fields would flood leaving only that one hill and the roads unsubmerged.  
Lucy, Wendy, and Carla had obviously packed all their belongings, Virgo had said she would hold for them in the Celestial Spirit World, and then dealt with their financial problems. Pooling their cash together they had 22,000 jewels, and they stocked up on supplies. Not only that, but they now had a new form of using money. It was honestly quite surprising for Wendy and Carla.

 _Walking through the doors of Skycash Bank, Wendy and Carla could not contain their awe at such a structure. Granite made up the outside that gave the building an intimidating feel, but the inside inspired the feeling of sophistication and elegance. It was so opposite of what they usually experienced while being in Fairy Tail with it always being loud and destructive. Inside it was vast with many pillars and arches made of marble. They could see many men and women wearing crisp suits and inviting smiles as they talked to other people, and there was a glowing piece of glass with numerous desks with lacrima computers behind it. Assuming that the people in suits were the bankers and the glass was magically enchanted they turned back to Lucy who was looking on amused at their reaction.  
_ _Turning her head and walking further into the bank she looked for Mrs. Helen, her personal banker. Spotting the woman, Lucy waved to get her attention.  
_ _Noticing Lucy, Mrs. Helen smiled happily and signaled to wait as she turned back to her previous client. Mrs. Helen was a short plump woman of her late forties with fiery red hair pulled up into a tight bun. She wore narrow slender glasses upon her small nose that seemed to make her mint green eyes larger. Wearing a long sleeved suit, a pencil skirt that was knee length , and pointed black three-inch heels completed her look. She was mother of two, a boy and a girl, but her children had gone off to university in Caelum about three years ago and now she was living alone with her husband, a rather famous defense attorney.  
_ _Signaling her hand to Wendy and Carla to follow, Lucy began walking to the waiting area; a series of wine red arm chairs surrounding a mahogany table that was covered in the latest Sorcerer and Science World magazines. Sinking into the chair, Lucy watched amused at Wendy and Carla. They both looked so awed and shocked. One would think they hadn't been to a bank before. Pausing at that thought, Lucy asked. "Have you guys never actually seen or heard of a bank before?"  
_ _Taking a seat in the soft arm chairs both girls shook their head no. They honestly did not even know what one does at a bank, but whatever it was seemed to be rather high class. Wendy and Carla, though mostly Carla, wondered what they were doing here in the first place. "What are we doing here specifically? And why are we here?"  
_ _"Oh we're here to change some of the stuff regarding my bank account, and I thought that since you two are living with me now I would make my account a family account so you too could put any extra money into it without having to worry about it being stolen."  
_ _Confusion and curiosity growing at the term 'bank account' as well as feeling warm at their term family even though she hadn't purposefully called them her family it felt like she had, they wanted to know what this had to do with money not being stolen. "What's a bank account and a family account?" Asked Wendy.  
_ _Feeling elated that someone was actually taking interest into what she had to say instead of saying it was stupid or useless information she thought of what to say. "Well a bank account is an agreement between the bank and a person were the person can withdraw and deposit money. You see the bank protects the money from being stolen, so it's honestly quite ideal to have bank account. Not only that but you can be paid interest depending the type of bank account." Pausing to gather her thoughts Lucy continued. "A family account is a joint or shared account where owners of the account can withdraw or deposit money from on singular pool of money. Now normally you wouldn't want this type of account because it can cause issues later on or increase taxes, but I trust you two."_

 _They were astonished that she was giving them this level of trust she wouldn't even give to Team Natsu. Although that's probably because they would likely spend all the money within the day. They did not understand financially saving or budgeting._

 _While feeling grateful Lucy was willing to trust them this much, Wendy felt undeserving. "T-thank you, but are you sure? I mean it's a lot of responsibility and I don't thin-"_

 _Putting her hand on Wendy's head and ruffling her hair, Lucy effectively cut her off mid sentence. "Don't worry about it Wendy. You'll do fine."_

 _Smiling shyly, Wendy nodded. While she may not agree she would try to live up to that responsibility._

 _Carla smiled in appreciation towards the blonde. She felt honored that she was being given this high level of trust, most people often disregarded her because she looked like a cat, but she was an exceed. They are just as smart as humans._

 _It did not feel like this was the only reason they were here though. "Is this the only reason we are here though because it doesn't feel like it?"_

 _Excited at the fact they were still interested in what she was saying, Lucy removed her hand from the soft blue hair. "I'm rather glad you asked that. There is this new feature that came out recently and I've been wanting to try it out but I hadn't had the time with everything going on." Thinking over of what she knew on the feature, Lucy continued. "Its called a Lacrima Card or LC. Apparently it was invented by a merchant in Midi who felt that it was to difficult to carry large amounts of money as he traveled, so he created the first prototype. I think they just went into mass production."_

 _Pausing to see if they were understanding what she was saying, and seeing that they were she continued. "A LC is a special lacrima with coded information that is about three inches long and two inches high. It allows for the owner of the card to withdraw or deposit money from any location without having to go to the bank. You can even pay for items using the LC and it pulls money straight from the account, but since it's still a rather new creation it has a direct withdraw system. A direct withdraw system is the ability to have cash teleported straight to the owner of the card if they can't or don't want to pay via LC."_

 _Both girls were left slack jawed. They couldn't understand why no one in the guild didn't have this already. It was an ingenious and way safer method of holding money than just carrying cash. All though that could be contributed to the arrogance that nobody would be stupid enough to rob well known powerful mages homes._

 _Realizing there was a flaw with the design Carla asked about the possibility of identity theft. "How in the world could that be safe? What if someone stole the card? They could end up stealing all of someone's money!"_

 _Smiling widely at Carla, Lucy felt happy they were actually thinking through the positive and negative aspects of the LC. "You're right Carla. The merchant thought the same thing. Within the steel casing around the card, it is enchanted to do a biometric scan or magical scan. It depends on the preference of the person and if the person even has magic."_

 _It seemed as though both girl's jaws had detached from their face and their eyes were practically bulged from their heads. It was greatly amusing to Lucy that they were this shocked, seeing this she sank further into the armchair with a tired sigh._

 _She hadn't been getting much sleep since Tartarus and what little she did get was full of nightmares. She was practically dead on her feet. Hearing the clicking of heels on stone woke her from the slight doze she fell into._

 _Turning she was greeted by Mrs. Helen's smiling face._

" _My Lucy dear, how have you been? When I hadn't heard from you after seeing the guild explode and the attack of that giant monster I thought you were dead! By God that monster was terrifying! I thought for sure we were all doomed and I was praying to God that you and your guild mates would be safe. I heard about Fairy Tail's disbandment. Are you alright dear? Oh you must be devastated! Why you look positively dead on your feet!" Realizing she hadn't noticed Wendy and Carla, she smiled apologetically. "Excuse my rudeness, if you please. I'm Mrs. Helen and who are you two dearies?"_

 _Mrs. Helen looked expectantly at the two dumbstruck girls, who were still trying to catch up with the whirlwind personality of the banker._

 _Lucy quickly covered for the two with an amused chuckle. "This is Wendy Marvel and Carla. Carla is an exceed. Both girls are staying with me from now on. It's nice to see you too Mrs. Helen."_

 _Mrs. Helen struck out a hand and both girls numbly shook her hand. " Well, it is quite the pleasure to meet two friends of Lucy's, and what lovely young ladies you two are. You two are just positively adorable!" Turning to Lucy with a playful glint in her eyes, Mrs. Helen continued. "Now when are you going to bring a boy with you for me to meet? You know you're not getting any younger dear."_

 _With an indignant cry, Lucy's face flushed. "I'm only eighteen. I don't need a man. I am perfectly fine without one. Besides I have Wendy and Carla to look after as well as my training, there's no time."_

 _Clicking her tongue and shaking her head at Lucy, Mrs. Helen pushed up her glasses that had slipped down her nose. "Excuses, excuses dear. Trust me you'll meet a man that will be an enigma to you and you won't know what to do with yourself. It's only a matter of time." Straightening her back Mrs. Helen's face became serious. "Now if you three would follow me we can discuss what you have come here for."_

 _Spinning on her heel Mrs. Helen led them through the bank, her clicking heels echoing._

They had quickly sorted through and completed the paperwork as well as gaining a LC for each of them. Lucy carried hers in same pouch as her keys while Wendy had hers in an enchanted anti-pit pocket travel bag. Carla had hidden hers, and she absolutely refused to say where.

The sun was getting low in the sky and the three had yet to reach the closest inn. Lucy herself was having a difficult time staying awake while the other two were practically skipping down the dirt road. The area was just too calm to Lucy, it was to the point she felt like a zombie and only grunted when the other two tried to start up a conversation. Oh what she'd give for a cup of coffee at this point! She could swear she could even smell the coffee!

Giving into the temptation, she started walking towards the origin of the smell only to walk face first into a glass door. Falling back hard onto her butt, Lucy hissed in pain and held her face. Cursing the person who thought it was a good idea to put doors in the middle of the road she looked up only to freeze in shock.

Right in front of her was a café. Lucy was positive she was hallucinating at this point, until she heard giggling. Twisting to look at her two companions she could see they were trying to contain their giggles.

Walking up to the fallen blonde, Wendy reached out and grabbed the older girl's hand and helped her up. Still giggling at Lucy, Carla walked into the Café. "We walked into town about ten minutes ago you know."

Not wanting to embarrass herself more, Lucy didn't deny the fact she wasn't paying attention, and followed them inside. The metallic chime of the brass bell sounded throughout the small café / grocery store. To the left small tables and chairs were spread out along the wall, opposite to that was the counter that was loaded with different foods. To the right side of the store were numerous shelves and aisles stocked with food with labels stating what came from which farm.

The trio sighed in relief when they felt the nice cool air of air conditioning. It had become noticeably more humid the further east they traveled thus making everything feel hotter than it actually was.

It was only a few seconds later that they could hear loud thumping footsteps.

Walking inside from the storeroom and into the shop through the hanging canvas door behind the counter was a mountain of a man. He was almost seven feet tall with a large build, but he wasn't fat. He had a long dirt brown beard that was braided at its ends, and long hair that was half way up and half way down stopping at his elbows. His face was angular, but it held a roundness and softness created by smile lines. He seemed to be in his late thirties, but his glacier blue eyes held a certain childish gleam to them that made him look younger. His clothes were that of a farmers, and were made with thick buck hide and coarse cotton. Giving the three girls an inviting smile he gestured towards the table by the counter.

Lucy, who was too tired to care, walked to the gestured table and chairs. Then she collapsed onto the chair with a heavy thud. She then promptly fell forward and slammed her head into the table causing it to jump with a bang.

All she wanted to do was sleep, and she really did not care if she was being rude at this point. In the back of her mind, she could hear the biting reprimands of her old etiquette teachers, but it didn't phase her. If anything, Lucy had been hoping that the pain from slamming her head into the table would wake her up. It didn't work, but she most definitely had a fresh head ache now.

It seemed her body was too exhausted to produce adrenaline. She was just so physically, mentally, and emotionally tired. It was at the point where her body was forcing her to sleep. Her body didn't care that this was not the place to do this nor was it the time.

Carla huffed in annoyance at the blonde's instant sleep and rudeness, but sat down at the table nonetheless. She felt that she was setting a bad example for Wendy, but Carla knew the girl needed her sleep. Carla had not actually seen the girl sleep, not only that, but she had seen the bone deep exhaustion Lucy had been trying to hide from them. She could feel that Lucy was going through something, but she had no idea what it was. What worried her though was what Lucy did just now. Just how little sleep was she getting? She had to be getting some sleep, but what quality of sleep?

Seeing that the blonde woman fell asleep as soon as she walked in, he turned to the other two. All the girls looked to be rather young. The blonde appeared to be in her late teens, the blunette in her early teens, and the white cat, which he knew to be and exceed, also seemed to be rather young.

He had met a few exceed merchants from a few towns over. He considered them to be some fine folk.

The three girls were likely travelers since he had never seen them around the town before, and this was a rather tight nit community. They did seem familiar though. They were pretty young to be travelers, but these days you never know with everything that has been going on.

Walking around the counter to greet the young travelers he took in their appearance even more. He could tell they hadn't been traveling long due to the newness of their clothes. There was this sagging in their postures, as if they were holding up the weight of the world.

Hearing the booming footsteps coming closer, Wendy and Carla looked away from their sleeping companion. While Wendy knew she could take down men ten times her size due to her magic, she still felt rather intimidated by the man's large stature. When the man stopped about five feet away from their table, Wendy shrank down into her chair while Carla sent her disapproving looks.

"I take it you three be some travelin' folk. How long are ya goin' to be in town or are ya just passin' through?"

Blinking in surprise at the deep and gravelly voice of the man, Wendy fidgeted under his curious stare. "Well, um… I'm not entirely sure what we're doing in means of staying and going. You see we're kinda just wandering. Our guild disbanded recently so… I forgot to introduce myself. I'm Wendy Marvel."

Seeing the girl grow quieter and quieter as she talked, he raised an eyebrow; however, he heard that these little ladies were in a guild both his thick dark eyebrows raised in surprise. Out of everything he did not expect them to be from a guild. Do they even accept people this young into guilds? He honestly didn't think they did, but apparently they do. He began to stroke his beard in thought.

"Is that so? Well, it's nice to meetcha little lady. My name is Klaus Walkerman."

Growing more comfortable in the presence of Mr. Walkerman, Wendy stopped trying to make herself look smaller. "This is Carla, and the person sleeping is Lucy Heartfilia. I'm sorry she's sleeping. She hasn't gotten a lot of sleep lately."

"No, no. It's fine, little lady."

Klaus was now very curious and surprised by this trio. Lucy Heartfilia. He knew that name. Anyone within this region knew that name. The heiress to one of Fiore's most powerful conglomerates, and a powerful and well-known mage of the mage guild Fairy Tail.

There had been many rumors going around about that destructive guild as of late. Rumors that the Magic Council had been assassinated by a dark guild, and that Fairy Tail intervened somehow. There had been reported attacks around the nation, and many of the towns attacked had no living residents anymore. Apparently, according to rumor, Fairy Tail was attacked as well causing it to, for the first time in it's history, declare a state of emergency. While this was all rumor and many of the Lacrima Vision Reporters said that the Royal Family was going to be releasing an official statement at the end of the week, he already knew a good majority was true. He had seen it first hand.

He had been traveling to a neighboring town to sell his crops a month ago when he saw it. A white, massive pillar of light come from the heavens in the west, from the general area of Magnolia. He felt the tremendous shock wave seconds after he saw it, and it sent him tumbling back down trail. He was knocked out instantly. He had never felt anything that powerful before, and it awed him as much as it terrified him.

There was an awkward silence when Klaus went into deep thought, and it made Wendy and Carla uncomfortable. Just when she was about to say something to break the stretching silence, Klaus shot off a question that flabbergasted them.

"You two and your sleeping friend be mages of Fairy Tail, correct?"

Wendy was stunned into silence. She didn't think there was anything that she said that would have suggested that.

Carla did not have the same problem as Wendy and was quite happy to state her confusion and surprise. "H-how did you know that?!"

"The name Heartfilia be pretty well known around these parts. It would be absurd to not know of the heiress! That family be a good inspiration to us poor folk! A fine example that a little sweat and hard work can get you anywhere in the world! That you could be whoever and whatever you wanted to be! Your friend is a great inspiration, and many of parents tell their kids about her. You are lucky person to be her friend!"

Seeing the confusion still present on both girls he explained more. "One of the many small economies Mr. Heartfilia supported was a major trading industry for small farmers, and he would often make necessary products or services more accessible for those who worked for him. While I heard he wasn't the best of fathers, he was a superb boss to those who worked under him."

Switching topics when Wendy heard the mumbling of the blonde, she filed that tidbit of information to ask Lucy about later. Right now their biggest concern should be whether this small town even has an inn. Hoping that Mr. Klaus would help them since he seemed to be so nice, Wendy glanced at Carla before looking back to the man.

"Mr. Klaus, I w-"

"Just Klaus little lady, there's no need for that formal mumbo jumbo."

Blushing a little from embarrassment, Wendy continued. "Um.. well, I was wondering if there were any inns in this small town. I really don't think Lucy is going to be waking up anytime soon."

Stroking his beard again, Klaus knit his brows in thought. "Well, there isn't an inn. There is a house just down the block that we usually let visitin' families or travelers stay, but before you even think of askin' about prices, it's free."

Confused as to why something like that would be free, Carla crossed her arms in perplexion. "Why would something like that be free though? Wouldn't it be better for you to have people pay for that?"

"It's an old house, and no one has lived in it for many years, so we fixed it up and turned it into a guest house. We don't have many visitors. If anything the housekeeper, Mary Ann, is going to absolutely love you three."

"Really?"

"Aye, little lady. With the time it is now we should probably get you three there so you have time to rest."

With that said, Klaus threw Lucy over his shoulder gently, but she still looked like a sack of potatoes. What was astonishing about this though was the fact Lucy hadn't even so much as moved or responded. She really was exhausted.

Wendy and Carla grabbed their stuff and stood up and followed Klaus out of the café/grocery store. They at least had a place to stay for now.


	4. Chapter 4- Laxus-Survival

**Thank you for all the reviews, follows, and the favorites! kurahieiritr Jio, Fujimaru, AnimeFan972- Thank you for all you kind words**

 **I hope you all enjoy this chapter because I'm not sure if parts of the character portrayal is correct.**

 **Well enjoy! :D**

* * *

Chapter 4

After learning that the man they had found was Laxus Dreyar, Carcillo looked up and began looking around. He needed to find Ryder, their medic. If anything Laxus was in need of serious medical attention. Laxus was having a hard time breathing and he could literally feel the heat coming off him in waves. He wasn't even touching the man.

"Dimitri! Where the hell is Ryder?! We need medical attention _now_!"

"I'm here! I'm here! Now what happened? Who needs help?" Running up to Carcillo, Ryder looked down and winced. "Well _shit_! Get him out of the sand now! Put him on one of the sleds! Get me my kit! Why are you just sitting there?! _**MOVE!**_ "

Scrambling to pull the rest of the large man out of the sand, the four men each grabbed a limb and lifted. Carcillo could feel dryness, the _heat_ , of Laxus's skin. He honestly was a little scared they were being too rough.

Following them to the sled, Ryder examined his patient more closely. The skin was red and beginning to blister, but it wasn't black. All he would need to do for that was wash off the skin, make sure it didn't get infected, and wrap it in gauze. The man was likely severely dehydrated and would need an intravenous drip. Ryder only had two bags of the magic modifier brand for emergencies, but that wasn't enough. His biggest worry was that his patient might have already had a heatstroke.

They needed to get him to a medical facility but the closest hospital was six days away via Speeder. His house was stocked enough that he could treat him there, if he used the sonic thruster he could get there in few hours. It was going to have to work otherwise this man might die.

They had just put Laxus down onto the only empty sled before Ryder was pushing them out of the way. Turning to Carcillo, he told the man what they needed to do if they wanted this man to survive. "Carcillo we need to get him to my place. I can stabilize him for now, but I need more supplies."

Carcillo knew that Ryder was right, but he couldn't send the man alone. How would he get the man off the sled? It took four people to just lift the man. They could probably drag him if there were only two people, but there was no way Ryder could do it by himself.

"Dimitri where is everyone else? I'm going to split up the caravan. You, Ryder, and I will go and get Laxus medical attention. I want everyone else to continue looking for fulgurite. Have them contact me if they find it."

Pulling out a communication lacrima from his lower pocket in his cargo pants, Dimitri began to explain what was going on and what they were to do.

After pushing everyone out of the way, Ryder grabbed his kit that someone had already put on the sled. Opening the worn leather bag, he pulled out one of the magic modifier intravenous bags along with a tube and needle. The first thing he needed to do was get some form of liquid into him before he could start treating the burns.

Grabbing one of the man's hands and turning it over so the palm was facing up, he found the correct vain. With his other hand he took the needle that was already hooked up to the I.V. and tube, and carefully pushed it through the tender skin. Looking to the bag, he pushed a button in the top right corner of the bag. A holographic screen popped up showing the different enzymes and electrolytes that were adjusted to fit the man's condition. As he looked through the percentages he felt glad that they had found this man when they did. If they had showed up an hour later he would be dead.

Turning he could see Carcillo pulling out a rope and a canvas sheet from his Speeder and running over to him. Tucking the I.V. bag between his patient's arm and torso to keep it elevated, he grabbed the canvas and draped it over the man. They were going to have to keep as much sand and sun off him as possible.

Tying down his end of the rope to the sled, Carcillo passed the rest of it to Ryder. Carcillo felt his anxiety growing at the deep frown marring Ryder's face. "Just how bad is it?"

"If Dimitri hadn't found him he would just be another skeleton added to the landscape."

Paling at Ryder's words, Carcillo walked around to the side of sled and activated the force field they would use to protect the fulgurite from damage. "We need to hurry then. Get in the Speeder, we've already switched the control spheres. Dimitri and I will go with you."

Doing as Carcillo said he quickly got in and started the Speeder.

Not bothering with watching Ryder take off, Carcillo hopped in. Turning the spheres a quarter to the left and pushing down, he started the speeder. Turning them down sixty degrees he shot forward with Dimitri following him. Rubbing his right thumb across the speeder activated the sonic thrusters. There was a sharp whistle before a thundering boom was heard, and the desert was a nothing but a white blur.

~.~

It took them three and half hours, but they had finally reached the small village of Kimaro. It was around six in the morning and the heat of the sun was already beginning to scorch everything. They had turned off their sonic thrusters and were going about half speed through the street, but they were still going way above the speed limit. They didn't really care at the moment. About halfway through their trip they had to stop and let Ryder switch out the I.V.

It was the last one.

After finding Ryder's house they had pulled up around the back, quickly turning off the Speeders and pocketing the spheres. They had managed to get Laxus off the sled and into the back room somehow.

It was used during the off season, when Ryder wasn't out hunting for Fulgurite, for his patients. He was the town doctor.

Lifting him higher and just barely managing to do so, they placed him on one of the two cots in the room. While the three men were fit, all the muscle and the sheer size of Laxus made him exceptionally heavy. Carcillo and Dimitri stood there panting for a few seconds, but Ryder didn't wait to catch his breath. He strode over to his stash of of I.V. bags in a small fridge on one of the stainless steel counters. Typing in the eight digit combo, he opened the fridge and pulled out a bag.

Quickly switching out the depleted bag for the new one, Ryder was worried about how fast the I.V. bags were being emptied. The rate at which they were being sucked dry was becoming farther between each bag. He hoped that was a good sign.

Walking back over to the cabinets, he pulled out a few rags, a bucket, and gauze. Putting the bucket in the sink, he turned on the water on and adjusted till it was just below lukewarm. If the water was too cold it could kill the skin cells and send his body into shock. After the bucket was full, he turned off the water and pulled it out of the deep sink. Walking back over to the other two, he threw a rag at each and put the bucket on the end of the bed between his patient's feet.

"I need the both of you to gently clean off the sand from the burns. Make sure the rags are wet all the way through, not sopping wet though. Leave the worst burned areas to me."

Following Ryder's orders, they began to clean the skin as carefully as they could. The skin seemed to almost sizzle when they began, and the water was practically soaked into the skin the first couple times. When the trio finished with his torso, shoulders, arms, neck, and face, they lifted him up so he was sitting upright and they began to work on cleaning his back.

It was slow work, and after maybe thirty minutes they had successfully cleaned off all the sand.

Now that the burns were clean, Ryder began examining for infection. It took about ten minutes before he deemed the man to be clean of any infections. Grabbing the gauze he began to wrap the burns as Carcillo and Dimitri held Laxus steady for him. When they were finished Ryder kicked them out of the room. He needed to run some more tests before he could go speak with them.

Walking through the kitchen, both of them went and fell on the light blue couch exhausted.

If there was one thing Carcillo knew about Ryder is that while he may be a brilliant man and an amazing doctor, he did not know how to decorate his own house. The three most common colors were blue, white, and gray. Literally everything in the house was one of those three colors, it kinda made him feel depressed every time he came over. It was a relatively large house with three floors, four restrooms, three bedrooms, one study/library, a fully stocked kitchen, formal dining room, a large living room/ waiting area, and of course the backroom where he would do his checkups, emergency surgeries, and keep overnight patients.

The first floor had the living room/ waiting area, the kitchen, the backroom, and two bathrooms. The second floor had the formal dining room, the study/library, two guest bedrooms, and one bathroom. The third and final floor had the last bedroom that Ryder used and the last bathroom. It was a large space with windows on all four walls, and had an enormous skylight. It was the only floor that was magically sealed to keep everyone out unless you were invited.

Another thirty minutes passed slowly, and before he knew it Carcillo had fallen asleep.

Dimitri himself was beginning to get drowsy from waiting and the ceiling held no form of entertainment. He was contemplating just barging into the backroom and demanding that Ryder hurry up. This was just so boring!

He was so focused on the ceiling and his ever growing boredom he never heard the loud squeak of the back door opening.

"Well aren't you two a sorry lot. I kick you out for half an hour and Carcillo falls asleep and you're glaring at my ceiling." Ryder shook his head in annoyance. "My poor house. Why didn't you take off your shoes? You know my rules about shoes in my house." Throwing his hands in the air and falling down dramatically onto an a heather gray armchair, Ryder threw his head back in defeat. "Why do I even bother?! Neither of you listen!" Kicking Carcillo's feet off the coffee table in the middle of the room, he woke him up. "See look now sleeping beauty is awake! It's not like we just picked some random guy out of the desert! Nope not all! As far as you know he could have died within the last half hour."

Sitting up in alarm, Carcillo felt fear crawl down his spine. " _WHAT?!_ How could he be _dead?!_ You said you could save him!"

"Whoa! Whoa! Hold on a second! I never said he was _dead!_ "

Resisting the urge to punch the man, Carcillo pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then _why_ did you say that?"

Raising his hands in surrender to the man, Ryder tried to get this conversation back on track. "Look I was just trying to get your attention! Now since you're not so sleepy can I tell you what I found out?"

Running his hand down his face in exasperation, he grabbed a gray couch pillow and threw it in Dimitri's face. He fell to the floor with a loud thump.

"What the hell was that for?! I was paying attention!"

Grinning with mischief, Carcillo settled himself back into the couch and crossed his arms over his chest. "It made me feel better."

"Well now that you're done, I'm going to explain what I was doing when I kicked you two out." Pulling out the two control spheres from his pocket he rolled them across the glass coffee table, but with a metallic clink they stopped in the middle of the table. A 3D holographic map popped up about half a foot off the table showcasing the desert and the weather formations.

Pointing to a blue dot Ryder began talking. "You see this blue dot here, this is where we found the man. Remem-"

"His name is Laxus Dreyar."

"Well _Laxus_ was hit by the sandstorm we had to wait out around one maybe two in the afternoon. Because he was hit by the sandstorm, he was forced to cover himself from the sand. Not only that but the sand covered up most of the sunlight so he was pretty much out of the sun until Dimitri uncovered him. Now usually someone in his condition would have died within four to seven hours, but by being out of the sun and also being covered in sand brought his body temperature down."

"How did being covered in sand save his life?

"Well initially I couldn't figure out how in the world he survived that long, but then remembered that at night the desert gets below freezing. Now the sand isn't going to automatically cool down, which would have sent Laxus into shock, but it instead cooled gradually also cooling him down enough to keep him from dying. This man, Laxus, is insanely lucky."

 _~.~_

 _"What do you mean you're leaving?!_

 _Cringing at the shrill and loud voices of his team, Laxus tried to keep a straight face. "It sounds exactly like what it is. I'm leaving."_

 _Freed was gaping at him, enormous amounts of disbelief and hurt on his face. The last time he had heard Laxus say anything like this was when he was excommunicated, but that was different. Laxus needed to leave, to sort himself out at the time. Freed understood that._

 _He didn't understand this time._

 _"B-but that doesn't make sense! You don't have to leave!"_

 _"Freed this is my choice. You guys are my team, my best friends but I need to do this alone." Holding up his hand to stop them from interrupting him, he needed to say this otherwise he never would. "In my opinion I failed in Hargeon an-"_

 _"BUT YOU DIDN'T!"_

 _"To myself,_ _ **I FAILED.**_ _I absolutely,_ utterly _failed, and staying with you three where you constantly tell me it wasn't my fault and coddle me, isn't helping. I understand that all you want to do is help, but right now that's not the type of help I need."_

 _"Well if that isn't helping that way then tell us what will! Just let us help!"_

 _Rubbing his face in exasperation, Laxus felt warmth growing in his chest. He was happy they wanted to help him, but the problem is that they always are. What he needed, wanted was space. Time to figure out what he wanted to do now that the guild was gone. His first and only home was gone along with the last remaining blood family he trusted and loved. He may see them as his family, but it wasn't the same._

 _"Look I'm not asking you to help me. I'm not asking you to understand either, but what I want is for you to let me do this because I'm going to whether you like it or not."_

 _Sagging their shoulders in resignation, the trio felt useless. They didn't agree with him. Not even a little, but they wouldn't argue with him. If he wanted to do this they won't stand in his way. They trusted him after all._

 _"Just call or something once in awhile, so we don't think you're dead." Evergreen was the one who spoke, but her voice was shaking as she tried to hold back tears._

 _Laxus watched his team. Freed looked resigned, yet was trying to regain his composure. Evergreen was on the verge of tears and her posture made her look defeated. Bickslow was the quietest out of all of them. He hadn't said anything, and Laxus couldn't see his face. He could feel the penetrating stare of the seith mage. It was something someone didn't often see from him, and it meant the man was serious._

 _Laxus found himself waiting with baited breath, but when he saw the nod from Bickslow he let out a sigh of relief under his breath._

 _"Don't worry I'll call you or something. Just stay out of trouble."_

 _"You know you say that, but you get in more trouble than we do, Laxus."_

Eyes snapping open, Laxus was awake.


	5. Chapter 5- Lucy-Town Life Part l

**Sorry for the late update! This chapter is rather long though to make up for the lack of updating. Life got pretty busy for me, and between homework, family business, and the stress of life it took me longer than I thought it would to get this chapter up.**

 **Although 52 followers! Just wow! Thank you! The same to the 16 favorites! I get this really big smile and then I cackle in glee. It makes my mom look at me weird when I do that.**

 **kurahieiritr Jio- Thanks for pointing out my mistake! I honestly laughed my butt off for that mistake, and I'm not offended. I honestly appreciate that I was told so I could fix it. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Loved your latest chapter for** _ **Taming Lightning**_ **by the way! :D**

 **Arouraleona- Thank you for your review it made my day! Love your story** _ **Down Stairs and Dead**_ **!**

 **Nina Heart- Thank you for your review. I can't wait to write how they come together either! It's been circling through my head since I first started writing this story and I don't think anyone is going to guess how they do meet up or what happens.**

 **Ok, without further adieu Chapter 5!**

* * *

Chapter 5- Town Life Part l

 _She couldn't believe it. She probably heard wrong, that had to be it. There was no way Aquarius was telling her to break one of her golden keys. Aquarius wouldn't do that. She knew how much Lucy cared about spirits. There had to be another way. Any other way! Lucy would gladly sacrifice her own life if only to spare her spirits from doing so. To save her friends, her family, Lucy would do almost anything. But she wouldn't sacrifice another family member to do so._

" _I can't do… something like that! NO! They are all important, I don't want to lose any of.."_

" _Break my key."_

 _Lucy's brain skidded to an instantaneous stop. She had to have been hallucinating this. Out of all her spirits, even more so than Loke and Virgo, Lucy was closest to Aquarius. It may not have seemed like it most of the time, but Aquarius was there for her in her own way when she was a child. Even when she complained and attempted to drown her for summoning her, Aquarius would always, always, try to cheer her up or distract her from her loneliness. It was why Aquarius would always get so… vicious when summoned. After so many years of having the same routine it just became normal for them to argue and yell at each other. Aquarius let her be herself during their time together in the manor._

 _Aquarius was Lucy's first friend. Aquarius was Lucy's only true friend when she lived at the manor. Especially after her mom died, and her father and the servants would tip toe around her or outright ignore her._

 _Sacrificing… sacrificing anyone, even if they were a stranger, was inconceivable to Lucy. It went against everything Lucy was taught, everything she believed in._

 _What made it worse though was the fact that this was Aquarius._

 _Lucy had no choice though. If she wanted to save her friends than she was going to have to break a vow she made to herself a long time ago, a vow that she constantly put her life on the line to uphold. To never use the Celestial Spirits as tools. It was what Aquarius was asking her to do. To use her as a tool to summon the Celestial Spirit King. To take away her freedom._

 _To take away the ability to ever see her again._

 _Lucy couldn't do that._

 _Not to anyone._

" _I'm not sure about trust, but we've been together for a long time, it will work."_

" _What… are you saying?"_

" _It's to save your friends."_

" _You're one of my friends too! I can't sacrifice someone to save the others! There must be another way! I'm not giving up!"_

" _I wouldn't suggest you do this if there was another way."_

 _"I can't."_

 _"This is the only way."_

 _Lucy shook her head repetitively. She couldn't, wouldn't do this. "I can't..." Lucy threw her head back and yelled in refusal. "There's absolutely no way!"_

 _Aquarius began to sweat and cringe from the deep wound in her right shoulder. It was excruciating and it hadn't stopped bleeding. It wasn't the worst injury she's ever had in her immortal life, but it still hurt like a bitch. "Lucy, we're running out of time... my power... won't hold him off much longer..."_

 _Lucy's head was bowed in defeat. Her vision was beginning to get blurry from tears. Her voice was weak and it trembled as she spoke. "I can't..."_

 _"Even if you destroy my key, that doesn't mean that I'm going to die. We simply won't be able to enjoy each other's company ever again."_

 _Tears were starting to stream down Lucy's face and she began to tremble. "I don't want that..."_

 _"I, for one, am quite relieved... I was originally your mother Layla's Celestial Spirit. When Layla died and passed my key on to you, I was disappointed. You're so quick to cry, you're so childish. You're naive to the world... and you didn't have a hint of Layla's grace. But because you were Layla's daughter, I've put up with you all this time and endured it. All this time... I've always hated everything about you."_

 _Lucy was sobbing into her hands now, and she persistently tried to wipe away her tears. "I don't care if you hate me... I love you Aquarius... I love you... you were my very first friend...my..."_

 _"HOW LONG ARE YOU GOING TO ACT LIKE A SPOILED, NAIVE LITTLE BRAT?! RIGHT NOW YOU'RE THE ONLY PERSON THAT CAN SAVE YOUR FRIENDS! WHAT'S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING RIGHT NOW? MEMORIES? KEYS? GUILT?! NO! IT'S THE POWER TO SAVE YOUR FRIENDS! THE POWER OF A CELESTIAL SPIRIT MAGE! NOW DO IT! DESTROY MY KEY! THIS IS SOMETHING THAT NO ONE ELSE BUT YOU CAN DO!"_

 _"I love you Aquarius..."_

 _"DO IT! LUUUCYYY!_

 _Holding Aquarius's key in front of her, Lucy used her other hand to keep her arm steady. She couldn't stop shaking. She couldn't stop crying._

 _Lucy had no choice though. It was either do this or Fairy Tail, her friends, her family, died. Fairy Tail were the only ones stopping Tartarus from succeeding in banishing away all magic in the continent. That would end with everyone dying._

 _Lucy had to do this. Even if...even if it felt like she was betraying Aquarius._

 _Lucy poured as much magic into the key as possible. This had to work. It had to, otherwise they were all dead._

 _"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"_

 _Aquarius could feel Lucy's emotions through their contract and bond. She could feel the sorrow. She could feel her determination. She could feel the absolute grief. She could feel her... her loneliness. Loneliness that had disappeared after so long. That was the one thing Aquarius never wanted Lucy to feel forever. Lucy had spent most of her life feeling that way, and now Aquarius was making her feel lonely again. Just after that feeling had finally disappeared._

 _ **My heart...it's burning up...even though...I hated that little brat...**_

 _"OPEN..."_

 **'A mermaid! A mermaid!'**

 _ **Even though...I hated her...**_

 _"THE GATE TO..."_

 _ **I can't just stop... these feelings...never seeing you again...is going to be so lonely Lucy...**_

 _"THE CELESTIAL SPIRIT KING!"_

 _Aquarius felt tears fall down her face as she looked at Lucy for the last time._

 _ **Thank you...for everything.**_

 _And the key broke._

Lucy's eyes snapped open. It was the same dream she had been having for weeks. Tears streamed continuously down her face and snot dripped out her nose. Lucy vigorously wiped her face but it didn't stop. She knew she needed to stop crying. It wasn't going to get her anywhere, and this enormous lack of sleep wasn't helping her either.

But she couldn't! It just hurt so much! Lucy didn't really know what to do. She felt... lost. After that battle, when she lost Aquarius, she saw her family alive and fighting. She also saw them lose people as well. Natsu's father being murdered by Acnologia right before his very eyes. Gray fighting Silver, who they had heard from Keith, one of the Nine Demon Gates, a necromancer, was Gray's deceased father. Juvia killing Keith which killed Silver as well. Gajeel and Wendy both losing their parents, Metalicana and Grandeeney. So many people lost others and were grieving for them. Many of them in those two weeks before the guild disbanded confided in her and she comforted them except for Gajeel. Although she suspected Levy did that.

Lucy couldn't bring herself to tell them what she had to sacrifice to save them. She couldn't add to their grief. She also didn't want their pity or awe at what she had done. This battle where she was able to summon the ruler of the stars was not something to be awed by. She may have succeeded in saving her family, but at what cost, the destruction of a Celestial Key. A key that is impossible to break unless it is destroyed in a substitution summoning. One of only twelve including the black key in the entire world. Keys that were older than written history, and she destroyed it.

She destroyed Aquarius's ability to come to this world, and while she knew it was what Aquarius asked her to do it felt so _wrong._ The worst thing though was that if she could go back and change it, she wouldn't. She wouldn't because Lucy didn't think there was any other way for that situation to play out.

The enemy had outmaneuvered them. The enemy had incapacitated them in one blow. If Lucy had never summoned Aquarius when she did, if she had never summoned The Celestial Spirit King, if she had never missed Natsu's hand when he reached out to grab her before the Alegria spell was activated, they would all be dead and all the magic in Ishgar would be gone. Fiore would have died. The only thing that had tipped the battle in their favor was Lucy's sacrifice of Aquarius's Key. It was the only reason why the battle continued.

It was for _that_ reason Lucy wouldn't change it if she could.

But she couldn't stop feeling so utterly weak, so... powerless. Like after every battle she went through before this she felt like she could have done _more_. To have been _better, stronger._ But her magic wasn't like Natsu and Gray's magic which was easily flashy and destructive. Lucy's magic was based on multiple abilities that stemmed from intelligence and vast quantities of magic, but it wasn't obvious. When Lucy summons a spirit it requires creating a type of magical pathway and door using her magic to create a hole between dimensions to allow the Celestial Spirit to enter this world, and then projecting her will out to the spirit to beckon them out of their domain to her world but only if they accept the summons. Once the spirit is summoned they usually have to give their consent to when they leave the human world even though it is excruciatingly painful for them to be in this realm and it will eventually kill them. Their lifeforce is sucked away slowly or quickly depending on the strength of the spirit. It is mentally taxing and painful to hold a gate open as well as supply the Celestial Spirit with all the magic they require to stay in this world. It wasn't a commonly used magic because of that as well as the cost of the summoning leaving the mage defenseless. This type of magic relied heavily on tactics and strategy, and the ability to form close bonds with others. Memorizing the contract and conditions between each Celestial Spirit the mage has is also rather important otherwise the mage can violate the contract making it void. However that has not stopped many mages from abusing the Celestial Spirits or forcing them to horrible acts upon others against their will.

Lucy was hyperventilating. Her mind couldn't stay on one topic and was jumping all over the place. What didn't help with that was the enormous residual emotions left over from that memory... nightmare. She needed to calm down. To stop thinking.

She took a deep breath through her nose and slowly released that breath through her mouth. She pulled her hands away from her face and rested them in front of her face where she laid on her side. She could feel the soft cotton fabric and smell the scent of freshly washed linen. It was relaxing and she focused on that. The smell and feel of the sheets, the softness of the mattress, and the calming darkness of her eyelids.

Lucy felt her breath evening out, her mind slowing down. Opening her eyes again after she had closed then to calm down, Lucy realized she had never seen this room before.

Not allowing herself another panic after just calming down, Lucy slowly sat up and looked around. It was a good sized room maybe thirty feet by thirty feet. The walls were painted white and the ceiling was an arctic blue with white swirls and ribbon like lines. There was an old oak door right in front of the bed that was open showing a shadow filled bathroom. On the wall to her left was an old oak armoire and a vanity with a mirror that extended all the way to the ceiling. Numerous crystal perfume bottles and a porcelain hand washing bowl was on the vanity all beautifully crafted. Silver wall sconces with gold accents and hanging crystals were on either side of the vanity and the doors holding white dim light lacrimas. Looking to her right Lucy saw another door, but this time it was closed. To the right of the door in the corner was a silvery blue arm chair with a small one legged oak side table with a small round top. Finally Lucy looked down to see a silvery blue comforter with white sheets draped over her and a large queen sized bed.

Throwing the sheets off her and swinging her legs to the side of the bed, Lucy stood up. Looking down she felt relief flood through her when she was wearing the same clothes she last remembered putting on.

It was a simple brown sleeveless collared button up top and a pair of light blue jean shorts that stopped mid calf. A pair of black ankle socks were still on her feet as well, protecting her from the cold hardwood floor.

Reaching up with her hand Lucy realized whoever put her in this mysterious bed had also taken her hair out of the side braid her hair had been in.

Turning to look at the bed she could see that it was on a cast iron frame. Two old oak side tables stood on either side in front of curtain covered windows.

Reaching out with a hand Lucy pulled back the curtains to reveal the visage of town buildings in the light of early morning. The buildings looked vaguely familiar to the town Wendy, Carla, and she had walked into after walking nonstop for hours.

Lucy realized she must have fallen asleep when they had walked into a cafe or something. She couldn't remember clearly, her memory was fuzzy from the exhaustion. Wendy and Carla must have found some place to stay and had taken care of her while she was asleep. Lucy felt guilt well up in her. Wendy wasn't supposed to be the person to take care of her, she was supposed to be taking care of Wendy.

"Oh! You're awake!"

Spinning around in alarm Lucy's hands automatically went to her hip where her keys were supposed to be only to feel nothing. Her keys were _gone._

Forgetting about the woman in the room Lucy began to frantically search the room around her starting on the bed, but before she could get much farther the woman talked again.

"They're on the bedside table missy."

Turning to the bedside table she could see her keys like the mystery woman said. How in the world she had missed that when she first woke up was beyond her. Clipping her keys onto her brown leather belt with her Fleuve d'Etoiles that had been next to her keys Lucy sighed in relief. Lucy turned back to the woman as she fingered her keys with loving care.

"Who are you?"

Giggling behind her hand the woman began to walk out of the entry way down the hall. "I'm Mary Ann. I must say it is a great honor to meet you. Your cute little friend Wendy speaks quite fondly of you. I can tell you two are rather close. When she talked about you she had this look in her eyes that most younger siblings have for an older brother or sister."

Lucy's heart fluttered at the description of how the woman thought Wendy saw her as an older sister. She found herself blushing as she followed the woman. Never in a million years did she think Wendy would see her as a sibling. The only person she has ever considered to be like a sibling to her was Michelle or like when she was younger Gomez, but she is a doll. It's not the same as having a real flesh and blood person to call a sibling. She wouldn't mind having Wendy be her younger sister.

"Um.. thank you I think. Where are we exactly?" Lucy spoke her next question sheepishly as she rubbed the back of her neck in guilt. "I fell asleep yesterday and well... I'm guessing Wendy found this place to stay for the night."

Following Mary Ann out into the the hallway Lucy could see that the house had a similar design as the bedroom except with pale greens instead of silvery blues. There was a large grand staircase to her right painted white that was parallel to a staircase across the room. Many portraits and different types of furniture holding vases and flowers were on the walls, and instead of sconces lighting up the room a massive crystal chandelier hung from the middle of the room.

"Mhmm... actually Klaus brought you three here since you were asleep missy. You've been asleep since yesterday, and my was I surprised when you didn't even stir when he was carrying you like a sack of potatoes! Why the nerve of that man! Doesn't even know how to carry a noble lady such as yourself properly!"

Lucy was startled yet amused by Mary Ann. "No, no. It's entirely fine. I'm just grateful you were willing to take us in. I'm sorry if my blunder has troubled you at all and if so I am willing to repay the debt of keeping us while I was asleep."

"Debt! Why that's absurd! This be a free place for travelers or visitors to this small town. Besides I don't own this house. I am only the housekeeper."

Lucy stared incredulously at the tall, maybe 5"11, thin woman's back as she turned and started making her way down the stairs. Her hair was a hazelnut brown with light red highlights that was held back in a high ponytail. She had a light tan with dark but few freckles on her face that made her lime green eyes pop off her face. Mary had a slender build with narrow hips and no curves in either chest, waist, or butt. She did have exceedingly shapely thin legs that seemed to make her look even taller though.

Mary's clothes consisted of a simple white cotton dress that had short bell sleeves with frills that stopped at tea length, a dark brown apron that was buttoned to the dress at the top and stopped around the knees, and a simple pair of black not polished leather slip on shoes.

"Wouldn't making guests pay for their stay make more revenue for the town?"

Mary looked back over her shoulder and smiled with pride. "My Pa be the mayor of this small town, and it be his policy to be kind to all people, even strangers. There be no need to have there be a tax on this fine house. We may not look like much, but our town's crops yield quite a hefty price all around Ishgar."

The feeling of surprise washed over Lucy again. She had not expected to find such a wealthy small town when Wendy, Carla, and her were traveling. "I didn't assume this was a poor town. I honestly was more in an exhausted daze when we arrived so I haven't met this man Klaus or have had a good look at the town yet."

Turning her head around to look at Lucy as she stepped off the stairs and turned right towards a towering set of heavy thick dark oak doors. "Well, that irritating man should be coming by later to see you and your companions."

Lucy felt curiosity and a slight hesitance to meet this man. "Why do you keep referring to him as annoying?"

Pushing the door open to see a large ornate dining room about forty feet long and about twenty-five feet wide with a table almost the same length as the room that was bare of all the dishes it would have at a formal dinner, Mary walked through a pair of swinging doors at the back of the room.

The swinging doors led to an enormous kitchen with state of the art appliances and large brick cooking fireplace. The counters were a stainless steel and the floor was a dark old oak like the rest of the house.

"When that man has played as many childish and downright annoying pranks on you that he has done to me, strangling him on sight doesn't sound half bad."

Ignoring the extreme amount of anger and sadistic joy in Mary's voice, Lucy followed Mary through another door. When Lucy walked through the door she was suddenly knocked off her feet to the floor with an echoing thud in the doorway.

"Lucy! I'm so glad you're awake! I thought you were going to sleep forever!"

Ignoring the sting of pain along her back to her the back of her head, Lucy hugged Wendy back as she sat up. "Forever is a pretty long time to sleep, Wendy. I just needed a little rest is all."

"A little _rest!_ Why you have been asleep for more that twelve hours you stupid girl! Wendy and I had to find a place to stay and there are no inns in this town! You are lucky we had met Klaus! Have you not been getting a lot of sleep lately? That was the first time I've seen you sleep since you took us in."

Turning her head to the side to avoid Carla's glare and Wendy's concerned face, Lucy gently pried Wendy off her. "I _have_ gotten sleep."

Carla glared at Lucy even more and narrowed her eyes. "How much?"

Lucy felt a spark of anger well up in her chest. Standing up and brushing off her butt for dirt, Lucy glared right back at Carla. "How is that relevant?"

Surprised and a little thrown off by Lucy's reaction, Carla couldn't predict how this conversation would turn out. She didn't let her emotions show. "It's _relevant_ if it affects Wendy's safety. What if we were attacked? Hmm. What would we do then huh? She's still a child no matter how strong she is, and if you're asleep she could get hurt. So your lack of being awake is _relevant._ Your lack of sleep is _relevant._ "

Lucy felt her anger evaporate and guilt condense to take it's place. Was she just doing nothing right lately? Was everything she did always cause others to get hurt? It's not like Lucy could just go say 'Hey subconscious! Can you stop giving me nightmares so I can actually sleep? You can? Well thanks that's a great help!'

"Carla I can take care of myself! I'm not a little girl!"

"I'm not saying you can't Wendy, and you aren't a _little_ girl but you are a girl nonetheless."

Wendy felt frustration and hurt drive her anger towards Carla. Why is she acting this way?! Everything turned out okay! She doesn't need to go snapping at Lucy! "I defeated one of the nine demon gates by myself! One of Tartarus's strongest members! If we were attacked we would have been fine! There is no need to be mad at Lucy! She did nothing wrong! There's nothing wrong with sleeping!"

Putting her hand on Wendy's shoulder, who had stood up while she was yelling, Lucy got her attention. "She's right Wendy. It's not about the fact everything turned out fine, but the possibility something might happen. Don't be mad at Carla she's only worried about you." Turning to Carla, Lucy gave her an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry Carla. I hadn't meant to cause Wendy and you so much trouble. It won't happen again."

Carla nodded her head in acceptance, but she felt guilty. She had only meant to use that as an excuse to find out why Lucy had been so tired. Her plan had backfired. "Luc-"

"Well I should probably go make breakfast. It should take only a few minutes."

Seeing a way out of the situation, Lucy quickly stepped forward. "Can I help you with that?"

Mary smiled at Lucy in understanding. "I'd be delighted to have help. Follow me."

Lucy followed Mary into the kitchen.

Wendy glared at Carla. Lucy may have asked her not to be mad, but she was furious! She was complaining about something that never happened, a _possibility_ Lucy said. Why there is a possibility the world might just explode, but you don't see people being angry over it or yelling at others. _"Carla!"_

"I'm sorry Wendy."

Wendy felt herself seething in anger. So much so that she hissed as she spoke. " _Sorry! Sorry!_ I'm not the person you should be apologizing to! There was no reason for you to yell at her! What made you jump down her throat?! If she needed the sleep let her sleep! There's nothing wrong with that!"

This made Carla feel even more guilty. "I had only meant to use that as an excuse to ask her why she was so tired. I haven't actually seen her sleep since she took us in besides yesterday and I know you haven't either. Not only that but there is this sorrowful presence about her whenever she thinks we aren't around. I've tried using my ability to see why, but all I see is water and the night sky. It doesn't make any sense."

...oo00~°.°~00oo...

It was around the end of breakfast in the room behind the kitchen, the servants dining room, when the door was suddenly slammed open and hit the wall with a wall shuddering boom.

"Ah! There you ladies be! Good mornin' little Wendy and Carla! Oh Ms. Heartfilia I see you're awake! Haha! It's nice to meet you and good mornin' to you!"

Wendy and Carla smiled up at Klaus as he walked in and sat down on the wooden bench for the table next to Mary Ann.

Lucy stuck out a hand and the man, who she was assuming was Klaus, grabbed it with a large hand. He gave a firm handshake and fully grasped her hand. Lucy remembered from her training as an heiress that that type of handshake meant that he trusted people easily, was very friendly, and the calluses on his hand meant he was used to hard physical labor, likely a farmer. "Good morning to you too. I'm assuming you're Klaus. Thank you for helping us when I um... fell asleep."

Klaus smiled widely. Ms. Heartfilia seemed to be a nice girl, if only a tad sad looking. "Klaus Walkerman to be precise, but you can call me Klaus. It be no trouble to help the little ladies and you out!"

Lucy felt her sour mood lifting at Klaus's upbeat attitude. He reminded her of Natsu somewhat with all his loudness and all the large gesticulation. "Well then I insist you call me Lucy. Ms. Heartfilia makes me sound old."

A booming laugh left Klaus's mouth. Lucy is an amusing girl! "I think the same thing! But Ms. Sourpuss Mary Ann says it be improper! Hah! We all be friends here, no?"

Mary, who had clearly ignored Klaus the entire time he was here, turned red in the face. "Sourpuss! Why you-"

Grabbing her hand and patting it in mock sympathy and understanding, Klaus cut her off mid sentence. "Now, now. There's no need to hide it dear. We all know it to be true."

Ripping her hand out of his warm hands, Mary felt her blood boil. How dare he make fun of her! "Don't touch me! And don't call me dear either! I am not a four legged animal!"

A teasing gleam sparked to life in Klaus's eyes. "Are you sure? Maybe you're hiding that tail under your dress, or do use a magic enchantment to change your appearance?"

Balling her hands into fists and slamming them onto the table, Mary felt steam come out of her ears. "Oh you are an annoying bastard!"

"It all be in good fun, dear."

"I thought I told you not to call me that!"

"Eh, but it makes you blush everytime time I say that. You're very pretty when you blush."

Mary felt her ears and neck burn. She wasn't blushing out of anger anymore. "I'm blushing out of anger! Not because I like it!"

Klaus grabbed a grape from the wooden bowl in the center of the table and tossed it in his mouth and bit down with an audible squishing crunch. "Hmm... if you're sure about that, dear."

Running her hands down her face in frustration and to help hide her blush, Mary gave up. "Do you never listen?"

Lucy, Wendy, and Carla all began to laugh. Mary and Klaus fought like a married couple.

"Are you two together?"

Klaus and Mary froze at Wendy's question. Mary didn't understand where that came from. If anything she despised that man with her entire being! It didn't matter that her heart fluttered every time he would smile at her, or that she blushed and her heart raced when he complimented her. It didn't matter that she may be in denial about actually liking him in any way, shape, or form. Nope! Why would that matter at all?! Mary didn't like him one bit! Not even if he was the last living thing in existence!

Klaus on the other hand, didn't think he was _that_ obvious. Less than ten minutes of these two girls seeing them interact and they already knew that he really liked Mary, and not in I want to be your friend way. It honestly astounded him! Everyone in the town knew! Her father, the mayor, knew too! How in the world is Mary so oblivious to the fact that he's interested in her romantically? Looking back on that, he probably shouldn't play so many pranks on her.

"HAHAHAHA! You three are so funny! Why would I be together with this irritating oaf?!"

Klaus felt a little hurt by that, but he wasn't surprised. If someone were to ask her opinion about him she would spend hours just explaining why he was horrible and annoying. He had heard that one time someone asked her if she actually liked him. Apparently that ended with Mary fainting from shock. Which is weird, but he took it as a good sign. Maybe she liked him back and was just super, _extremely_ dense at admitting it to herself, so he would keep trying. Trying was taking three years though. "Why not?"

Mary looked back to Klaus and gestured to all of him as she spoke. "Because of this."

"You just gestured to all of me."

"Not all of you, your personality is larger than this house. So it's only the annoyance that is the physical form that I am gesturing too."

"That doesn't even make sense."

"It doesn't have to because I said so." Mary crossed her arms, deeming herself the winner of their little tiff. "Now that you three have finished your meal, what do you plan to do after today?"

The three ex-fairies blinked in surprise at the sudden change in topic, they had expected the two adults to continue their lover's quarrel. Lucy recovered quicker than the other two girls. "Well, we were originally planning on training and travelling around the country, maybe the world. I don't think we should leave this town yet, but if we do stay I'm not comfortable with living off the town's generosity. If we do stay longer than a few days is there anything I can do to repay the debt of staying here?"

Mary frowned. Usually the people who stayed here were more than happy to not have to pay any fee for staying here, yet here was this girl insisting that she should repay them. It baffled her. She had heard many things about Ms. Heartfilia, but she did not believe that she would be like this. "There's no need for you to have to try and repay us, Ms. Heartfilia. Our generosity is one of the principles our town is built upon."

Lucy felt herself beginning to get irritated with Mary. "While I understand that it is a custom of this town, I do not feel comfortable accepting this town's generosity when I have not earned it."

"Ms. Hearti-"

"How about you work at my little shop or help me in the fields if I need it?" Klaus quickly cut off Mary, as he began to notice both the women were beginning to lose their patience with the other. Besides Lucy has impressed him, there aren't many people who refuse to be given something especially when there are no strings attached.

Lucy seemed rather hesitant, but determined. "Are you sure about helping you with field work? To be honest, I haven't done much in that area, other than taking care of a small herb garden. Otherwise I accept your offer."

Klaus smiled in success, he had avoided an argument without them really saying anything against him for interrupting them. "I take it you be a quick learner. Adapting to guild life after being in high society must not have been easy."

Lucy was surprised. Not many people she knew understood the difficulty she had adapting to the completely different way of life everyone in Fiore lived compared to the life of deception that awaits people in the life of an aristocrat. It was something she truly enjoyed about her life now. Yes, people still lied and deceived, but they also told the truth and didn't have ulterior motives most of the time. They had the option to not have to be that way.

The life of the aristocrat involves understanding that there is no one you can really trust, no one that will ever truly be your friend, and that unless you happen to be the head of your family than you do not have a say in your life. She's heard many people make jokes at her about her family being rich. That she was spoiled and had no right to complain about that life. That she's never experienced the pains of going hungry because of lack of food. That she's never been penniless. That she never had to experience true loss.

She never corrected them on the fact that most of the 'supposed' truths are wrong. Being in that branch of society is a fancy expensive cage. A cage that you are born and raised in. A cage that there are only a few ways to escape.

Your family going bankrupt.

You destroy your worth.

You run away.

Death.

It is such a hush-hush society that there are even domestic crimes that are committed, but because they are the upper class no one says anything. People just let it happen. The nobles have their hands in so many lives that no one is willing to do anything about it out of fear.

Lucy was ashamed to say she was among the group that feared the repercussions if she were to speak out. She didn't fear for herself, she feared for her friends. She used to speak out, but when she joined Fairy Tail she stopped. She couldn't risk them getting hurt. It didn't matter that they can take care of themselves, there is always some way they can be crossed off if the nobility felt the need to keep her quiet. They wouldn't kill her as she still is technically a part of the nobility even if she denounced that part of her life. They wouldn't let her go.

They still occasionally contacted her in hopes she would come back.

"You're right it wasn't the easiest thing, but I've managed so far. I wouldn't say I am a quick learner though."

Klaus narrowed his eyes slightly. He could see the gears turning in her head after he spoke. He wondered what she had been thinking about. "So little Wendy what are you and your companion Carla going to be doing?"

Wendy blinked at the sudden attention that shifted towards her. She had been watching them interact and it had been rather interesting, but now that the conversation had shifted to her she felt nervousness creep up on her. "Well...I was going to train since there is a technique in my magic that I recently unlocked that I want to master. Other than that I don't really know."

Going with the flow of the conversation Mary spoke next. "Since Ms. Heartfilia is helping around the town with Klaus, how about you help me?"

"What is it you do exactly? I mean you told us you're a housekeeper, but what is that exactly?"

Mary smiled at the interest she could see in Wendy's face. "I mostly clean the house and do the cooking, but once a week a group of maids from an agency comes and cleans the whole house. On the side I help run a small bakery down the road. The owner of the bakery is an elderly woman in her early seventies. She'll love you."

Wendy smiled brightly when Mary started to talk about the bakery. She loved to bake! Honestly, she didn't think she was very good, but she really wanted to learn. "I'd absolutely love to help you! I really like to bake even though I don't think I'm that good, but I'd like to learn!"

Mary's face seemed to light up at Wendy's enthusiasm. "It's a deal then!"


	6. Chapter 6-Laxus- Recovery

**Hello! Sorry for the long wait! I hadn't meant to make this chapter this long originally, but I became inspired. The length is also to make up for how long it took to post and finish this chapter. Between school, life, homecoming parades, donating blood, and homework I've had not much time to write. Having a small bout of Writer's block didn't help either. I'd like to say thank you to my two best friends (you know who you are) who helped me through my writer's block.**

 **But wow though! 63 follows and 23 favorites! That's amazing and thank you! It totally makes my day.**

 **kurahieiritr Jio- Thank you for reviewing! I had wanted to make Lucy and Wendy stay in one location for a while and this also gives them an opportunity to train more. Besides working for my OCs will expand their skill set. I'm glad you enjoyed my chapter.**

 **Exo-Toxicimpulse - Thank you for reviewing! I'm happy you find my story interesting!**

 **Diasphro- Your review lit up my day and I'm happy you like my OCs. My biggest worry is that they will infringe on Laxus, Lucy, Wendy, and Carla or mess up my story. When I write them I try to make them as real as possible or I draw their personalities from people I know. The whole 'don't call me dear I'm not a four legged animal' comes from my mom. It drives her crazy when my dad does that.**

 **Arouraleona- Thank you for reviewing and it makes me happy you find my story exciting.**

* * *

 _ **An old Cherokee told his grandson, "My son there is battle between two wolves inside us all.**_

 _ **One is evil. It is Jealousy, Greed, Resentment, Inferiority, Lies, and Ego. The other is good. It is Joy, Peace, Love, Hope, Humility, Kindness, Empathy, and Truth."**_

 _ **The boy thought about it, and asked, "Grandfather, which one wins?"**_

 _ **The old man replied quietly, "The one you feed."**_

* * *

 **This was just something I found on Pinterest and I don't know who it's by.**

* * *

Chapter 6- Recovery

The first thing Laxus recognized when he woke up was the pain. His skin felt like it was on fire. It was a crawling sensation that traveled across his upper body in waves and it left him in agony. It was a strange feeling. His skin burned, yet he felt freezing cold. Not only that his head wouldn't stop pounding, and his eyes felt watery and hot. He contemplated sitting up to see what he had done to himself, but thought better of it. He didn't want to aggravate the already painful wounds.

Not wanting to think about his dream that was more of a memory if anything, he thought back to what happened.

How in the world was he still alive? Last he remembered he was in the middle of a godforsaken desert that felt like the hottest fuckin' place on Earth, but now he was in a dark cold room. He didn't even have the drive to find out where he was. God he just felt like a piece of crap! He remembered being caught up in a sandstorm and the agonizing pain of the salt rubbing into his skin and the whipping peals of sand upon his covered back. He must have fallen asleep at some point but that didn't explain where he was.

Focusing on the sounds around him he could hear the whistling breathing of living beings. He could here three sets of heart beats, their blood rushing throughout their bodies. Taking a deep whiff of the air he could smell the pheromones of three different men, it was a strange smell, not really something easily described. They were talking in another room not that far away, seemingly about the weather. He heard the shuffling of feet and the squeak of the door opening. Light filtered through the doorway, and then with a click the lacrima lighting turned on.

The only thing Laxus saw was the ceiling, it was white, almost blinding to his sensitive eyes. He figured that he injured his eyes due to the blinding light in that wretched desert.

He heard light footsteps coming closer before they stopped.

"I see you've finally woken up. Laxus, right?"

The only response Laxus gave the man was turning his eyes from the ceiling to look at the man. The man appeared to be in his early forties, hair already graying. He was about 5'8 and had a lean build. His hair was held back and away from his face by a single braid that was slung over his shoulder and stopped in the crook of his elbow on his crossed arms. He had a wide set of shoulders and a short neck with a sharp, almost jagged, looking face. Silvery gray eyes seemed to bore through him as the man waited for him to respond, but Laxus didn't feel like talking.

" _Sigh..._ I'll just take your silence as a yes. My name is Ryder if you're wondering. Will you by any chance be willing to tell me _why_ you were in the desert in the first place?"

Laxus kept quiet as the man, Ryder he said, walked over to hanging bag of clear fluid next to the bed he was in and checked it.

When Laxus didn't respond, Ryder sighed and turned to look at the man. "You're not one for talking are you?"

Laxus still didn't respond.

"You know if we had never found you, you would be dead. Severe dehydration, second degree burns, you almost had a heat stroke, and you have heat illness. Medically speaking when we found you, you were at the point where I shouldn't have been able to save you. You should have died."

It was a few more minutes before Laxus responded. His voice was hoarse and his throat burned as he spoke.

"Why did you save me?"

Ryder paused as he was switching out the bags. He looked over at Laxus, trying to decipher why he was being asked that. Laxus wasn't looking him anymore and was instead looking to the ceiling. He wasn't looking directly into his eyes so he couldn't completely see what emotions were there, but he could tell something was wrong. The look on the man's face reminded him of some of the look soldiers he's treated back when he worked in the military had. It was this haunted vacant look in the eyes that was entrenched with guilt and sorrow. It was survivor's guilt.

During the Laxus's sleep, Ryder looked him up on a lacrima computer. From what he could gather Laxus Dreyar was a powerful mage having gained the level of SS-class, defeated a Wizard Saint, and was a mage of the most powerful guild in all of Fiore, Fairy Tail. He was also apparently a ladies man. Ryder figured Carcillo and this man would get along quite well on that front, but now he wasn't so sure.

Something must have happened, but he wouldn't ask...for now at least.

"Well I'm a doctor it's my job to save people, just because you were in pretty bad shape doesn't mean I still shouldn't try and save you. What kind of doctor would I be if I said it was too late for someone without even looking at all the angles I can? I wouldn't be doing what I consider my duty as a human being. That is why I saved you."

Laxus turned his eyes away from the ceiling and looked at Ryder again. He didn't really know why he asked that question, but he felt like what was the point of trying to save him if he was already so far gone? It was something he had wanted to ask Porlyusica when she created the antidote for the barrier particles and saved him first when it should've been his team or Hargeon first. Not him. He couldn't really fathom why someone would go so far to save him. He wasn't saying he wouldn't move heaven and Earth to save anyone else, but why save him? He's caused so much hurt and pain. He couldn't even save people when he had the chance. He was too _weak._

Not only that but Ryder didn't even know him. To Ryder he was a stranger, yet Ryder still saved him. Ryder told him why he saved him, but it didn't satisfy Laxus. He wouldn't ask for more of an answer though. He didn't want to explain himself.

"Where am I?"

Ryder had finished switching out the bags before walking over to the cabinets and grabbed a mug. "You're at my house." Filling up the mug with water from the sink, Ryder walked back over to Laxus. He put the mug on a metal table next to the man and then grabbing some pillows from under the bed. "Specifically speaking this is the town of Kimaro, the interior of Fiore, north of Crocus, north of the mountains surrounding Crocus, but south of the mage guild Blue Pegasus."

Putting his hand gently on the man's shoulder he, with much help from Laxus, sat the man up slightly and placed the pillows behind him. He then gently leaned him back on the pillows. Ryder grabbed the water filled mug and handed it to Laxus.

Laxus grabbed it with a shaking hand and tried to not drop or spill the mug. After a bit of a struggle he managed to get it to his cracked and painful lips. Drinking the water was soothing and painful. Laxus downed the glass, but he wanted more. How did he not notice he was this thirsty?! He felt like he could drink an entire ocean at the moment. Laxus handed the mug back to Ryder.

Noticing how fast Laxus downed the mug, Ryder went and grabbed a glass pitcher from a top cabinet to the left of the sink and filled it up. He put it on the table next to the bed and refilled the mug and handed it back to Laxus. This continued for the next few minutes.

Ryder would have told Laxus to slow down, so he wouldn't throw up, but he doubted he would listen.

Laxus slowly handed the glass back to Ryder and didn't make a motion for another. He was fine for now, but now he was curious. "Who is this 'we'?"

Ryder stared at Laxus trying to figure out what the man meant.

Laxus began to feel uncomfortable from all this staring and he felt his patience waning. "Are you going to answer the question?"

Ryder was still confused, he may be a smart man but he didn't know where this question was coming from. "What do mean by 'who is this _we_ '? I honestly don't know what you're referring to."

Sighing in irritation, he wondered if this man was going senile. "When you first came in here you said 'if we had never found you'. Emphasis on the 'we' in that sentence. That is my question. Who are the other people who found me?"

"Ah, of course! That is what you meant. Well it was actually Dimitri who found you first, but Carcillo and I also brought you here. It's good to know that was what you meant. I was starting to get some _strange_ ideas!"

Laxus felt his face slipping into an annoyed blank face. It was an interesting facial expression. He really did _not_ want to know what this man had concocted in his mind. While he was grateful to the man for a saving him, something in his gut told him that this doctor was a little _eccentric_. He hadn't decided if that was good or bad yet.

"How long do I have to stay here?"

"You had a temperature of 105 when we found you, and that only dropped to 104 when I began treating you. Your body was one degree away from having a heatstroke. When I said that you were incredibly lucky I wasn't kidding. You were going to die." Ryder sighed as he saw the alarm and shocked expression of the man. He never liked this part of being a doctor. Having to explain just how close one came to death or having a patient die while in his care was always hard. "Now I have my theories as to how you managed to survive, but… those are just optimistic."

Laxus was frozen in shock and his mouth was dry again, but not from lack of water. Just how close to death was he going to come?! It hadn't been even more than a month and he was already in this situation again. The biggest difference between then and now was that he was put in this situation by his own stubbornness. He wasn't saving anyone, or at least attempting to anyway. Bickslow was right. He does get in more trouble than they do and most of it is self-inflicted. Does he have a death wish or something? He didn't think so, but maybe he did.

Laxus was quiet and his voice was just above a whisper. "How optimistic?"

"Well one of my theories was that the desert sand cooled you down as well as insulating you against the cold, but I think it's more likely that somehow, someway, someone out there just really didn't want you to die."

Laxus looked down at his hands, they were one of the few parts of his upper body that weren't in searing pain. They were the same as they were in the desert, no difference. His arms though were covered in gauze. It was soft against his skin. In his right arm at the crook of his elbow he saw a needle covered with a square sheet of gauze. The needle was connected to the tube connecting to the clear bag. He could feel the needle in his skin, it was a strange feeling. Not a sharp stinging pain, but a dull sensation. The needle and tube were taped in place and he felt pain when he sat up as it moved in his arm. His hands were rested on his legs that still wore the same pants he wore in the desert, they were a dull maroon color.  
Where does he go from here? He didn't know. That seemed to be the common trend for him. Not knowing where he was going. Always getting lost. Running in circles. Up. Down. Left. Right. Always traveling the hardest road. Is there something he's missing? Something he overlooked somewhere that would have prevented the worst from happening. He was never there in time to save those he considered family. Fairy Tail. That name was always bittersweet for him. Home. A reminder. Abandonment.

He felt as though he betrayed the Raijinshuu. Promising not to die. Yet he almost did that. So close yet not. So far yet close. So many circles. Always spinning, looping, looping. Endlessly. Was there an end? Does doing the same thing over and over always achieve the same result? Is it madness?

Anger. Grief. Sadness. He knew those emotions. He knew the pain. The endless cycle. Love. Did he know love? No, not really. Only with family, but they were always so distant. Close yet far. Pushing away then pulling closer. Always on repeat. Cycling.

Was everything done in cycles?

Rinse. Wash. Repeat.

Ryder saw the unusually open expressions from Laxus. It was astonishing the complexity he found there. It was like white light being broken up into thousands of different variations of the basic colors. Red. Yellow. Blue.

Anger. That was the most dominant emotion he saw, anger and… loss. Self hate. Loneliness.

Ryder didn't know what to say. From what he knew from the little research he did, Laxus was only twenty-four. What kind of life could he be leading to have those… emotions? Maybe there was a reason Dimitri found him in that desert. Some other reason than pure chance.

To help him.

Ryder walked passed Laxus and opened the white blackout curtains. The room became even brighter, and Ryder squinted at the change in light frequency. Looking outside the window he could see the town market with it's colorful canvas booths and massive, yet dwindling, crowds of people. They looked like ants, considering his house was on a rocky hill that the rest of the town surrounded, it made sense that they would.

The town of Kimaro is a small desert town of a population of roughly eight hundred to nine hundred people. It was a pit stop in crossing the desert with many, many merchants. There was a pretty large school on the other side of the hill along with the church and town hall. The town was supported by an enormous underground river that was connected to a massive cave system. Most of the town was made out of brick but the poorer part of the town was made out of fermented mud that sat in water holes all year long till they reached the right consistency around the time of the sandstorms.

There was a sharp metal ticking noise.

Looking down, Ryder saw the most peculiar thing.

A red and black caterpillar.

Now there were red and black caterpillars in the desert, but not in this region. It was strange. Ryder didn't feel like thinking further on the caterpillar. After all there was so many other things that were stranger.

Ryder turned around to look back at Laxus. He was staring at his hands now, but he couldn't read his expression as easily as before. Now that he thought about it, why was he by himself in the first place? From what Carcillo had told him, Fairy Tail mages weren't by themselves for very long. The fact that he was by himself was rather strange. "I have a question."

Laxus looked up from his hands as his mental spiral was disrupted. All he wanted to be was left alone right now. He appreciated the silence Ryder gave him as well as opening of the curtains. The room was rather stuffy and he hated the smell of hospitals. It gave him a headache. "What's your question?"

Leaning against the window frame and crossing his arms over his chest, Ryder thought of how to phrase this question. "I thought Fairy Tail mages liked to travel together. All gung ho about the family stuff, and causing extensive amounts of destruction. Why were you traveling alone then?"

Laxus felt his mood get worse at Ryder's questioning. He really did not want to talk about them right now. He wouldn't deny the man an answer though since he did save his life. "I'm surprised you haven't heard. Fairy Tail disbanded."

Ryder blinked in surprise. That was rather big news. It was strange that he hadn't found some kind of article about it on the Lacrima Computer. Everything was getting rather strange lately. There's great undercurrent of mounting tension lately, and it's not just in Kimaro. Not just in Fiore. It was all over Ishgar.

"Well if your guild disbanded why are you all alone? Usually when something like that happens people like to stick together. I'd think that would be especially true for your guild."

Laxus felt a bitter laugh erupt from his throat. Ryder made a pretty good point. It is rather ironic that they would split up rather than stick together with all their great momentous family preaching. Maybe it isn't exactly preaching, but they've said it enough times to both ally and enemy alike they practically reformed some of them. "You're right, it would make more sense for us to stick together then split up. I can't say I'm any better than the others though. I left my team. I talked to them about of course, but they didn't like it. Can't blame them. With everything going on I needed space. Time to think." Laxus chuckled in a self deprecating way. "Didn't work out very well. All it got me was nearly killing myself in a desert from lack of supplies."

"What were you needing to think abo-"

The door to the room slammed open, cutting Ryder off mid sentence and making him almost fall over in surprise. It was Carcillo and Dimitri.

"Is he awake?!"

Grabbing a nearby popsicle stick Ryder threw it at Carcillo and hit him square between the eyes. He was annoyed. "He's awake now dimwit. What are you doing yelling?!"

"OW! What the hell man?!"

"Oh stop complaining! For someone of your title one would think you wouldn't be so childish."

Rubbing the stinging pain out of his forehead, Carcillo glared at Ryder. "Says the doctor who injures people instead of healing them."

Grabbing another popsicle stick from a jar on the counter, Ryder narrowed his eyes at Carcillo. He hadn't heard what was said since the man mumbled, but he assumed it wasn't anything nice. "What did you say?"

Dimitri peeked from behind the two arguing men to see Laxus awake. He was watching them with this nostalgic expression. Dimitri walked up to the, much larger even when partially lying down, man. "You're Laxus Dreyar, right?" He made sure to whisper as to not draw the attention of the two arguing men.

Laxus raised an eyebrow at the...young teen? He wasn't really sure though. The boy was dark skinned like the other man who barged into the room. It reminded him of that ash-for-brains idiot Natsu and the way he made sure to _always_ barge into the guild. The boy was extremely thin looking, but not in a malnutrition way, just a naturally lean figure. He was maybe 4'11 and had these ocean blue eyes that popped off his face, that was rather soft in the features.

Instead of actually answering Laxus just nodded his head.

Dimitri's face lit up like a Christmas tree and he did this little dance in place while whisper yelling yes over and over again. "Oh my gosh! You're Laxus Dreyar! _The_ Laxus Dreyar! You know I've watched all your fights in the Grand Magic Games and I have all the Sorcerer Weekly articles on you and I even have some figurines that I ordered from the guild you're a member of and...and you're here! This is just so awesome! I'm talking to Laxus Dreyar! My friends will never believe this!"

Laxus was a little freaked out by this boy. At first it was cool that the boy recognized him from the Grand Magic Games, but now the kid was just mumbling to himself with this creepy starry look in his eyes. It was strange.

"Calm down Dimitri. You're freaking the poor man out."

Dimitri jumped and turned around to face Carcillo with surprised pleading eyes. "But you're his biggest fan! Why aren't you as excited as I am? When you saw him fight in the Grand Magic Games you wouldn't stop talking about it for weeks."

Carcillo scratched his beard and gave Laxus a sheepish smile. He wouldn't meet any of their eyes. "While I happen to be a fan of his, I am still going to treat him as a human being."

Ryder turned to Carcillo in surprise. "When did you mature? Last I remembered you were acting like a child."

"I find that insulting. I am mature all the time."

Crossing his arms, Ryder deadpanned. "You were just whining like a three year old over a popsicle stick."

"Cause you hit me with it!"

Ryder shook his head and turned to Laxus with a mock apologetic look in his eyes. "Sorry about his attitude. I helped raise him. One would think he doesn't have some manners. This is Carcillo by the way. The young boy over there is Dimitri. They're siblings."

Suddenly all their eyes were on him. He nodded in greeting. He didn't need to introduce himself they already knew who he was.

He felt uncomfortable and looked out the window. He couldn't meet their eyes.

"So Laxus…"

Laxus turned to look at Carcillo. He still didn't feel like talking and he was in a sour mood after talking with Ryder.

"Do you know how long Ryder's holding you captive?" Another popsicle was thrown. "Bed rest! Not _captive._ Bed rest!"

"No"

He was blunt, not particularly loud but his voice seemed to thunder throughout the room. He just didn't feel like talking.

Carcillo turned back to Ryder. "Why didn't you tell him?"

Shrugging Ryder looked back towards Laxus. Expression unreadable. "Just never got around to the part of the conversation." Well they did, but he never said when Laxus would get off bed rest. They had gotten sidetracked. He didn't say anything.

"Well?"

Ryder looked at Carcillo confused. "Well what?"

Carcillo rubbed the crease between his brows. Why did their conversations always end up here? "How long does he have till he gets off bed rest?"

"Well I was thinking maybe two days at most. As long as he drinks plenty of water and stays out of the sun for a while, he'll be fine."

Laxus felt a weight lift from him. He was sick of hospital beds. He's been in them far too often for his liking. "Is there anything I owe you? I have some money in my bag.." Looking around the sides of the bed than the rest of the room, Laxus didn't see his bag anywhere. It had everything of value to him and it wasn't here.

Carcillo and Ryder looked at Laxus blankly. They didn't even see him with a bag when they found him. They had been too busy trying to save his life. "We didn't see any ba-"

"Ooh! I picked it before we left along with your coat Mr. Dreyar! I'll go get it right now!"

Dimitri raced out through the door they had carried Laxus through earlier to the Speed racers. He ran to his Sand Speeder and unlatched an inner compartment. Pulling out the bag that he had stuffed the large heavy fur coat into before they left, Dimitri made sure not to yank it out as to not damage anything inside. Using his right hand he pushed the panel back into place and latched it back into place.

The sun was just beginning to travel in a downward arc down the sky and dark shadows were extending throughout the town. Some shadows were light and easily seen through. Others were dark. There was movement in the dark. A soft clicking noise. It was another caterpillar. Black and Red.

oO-0-Oo

The two days passed and Laxus recovered quickly. He was standing in the bleak living room of Ryder's house, about to leave. He felt bad he didn't have anything to repay them for saving his life. Well technically he did, but he didn't know if they would ever use it. It was a small rectangle shape communication lacrima. He was originally going to give it to his grandfather, but the old man left before he got the chance to give it to him. It was a one way pager basically, but it sent a recorded message as well.

It was strange being around people again. They reminded him of Fairy Tail and they were surprisingly open about themselves. Carcillo was the leader of a small caravan of twelve that traveled the desert during the storms looking for fulgurite. Dimitri was his younger brother. Well the brother that was alive anyway. Their mother had seven miscarriages before him. The father had died six years ago and the mother had died last year from a plague that had swept through the town. They recently had the cure for it and they were incredibly lucky to have been out hunting when the initial wave swept through. The town had been quarantined for six months.

It was Black Death.

Ryder was the town doctor and ran a small clinic from his house. He also happened to be Carcillo and Dimitri's father's best friend.

Laxus was still surprised they had been so open with him about their lives. Like how Carcillo had at least two girlfriends at a time. Or how Dimitri was the top of his grade. Or how Ryder apparently thinks pickles taste good in a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

He physically cringed at that. It sounded disgusting. Laxus pulled his fur lined coat a little closer to his body. He wanted to make sure he wouldn't make his injuries worse.

A white muscle shirt was under the coat, it was easier and less hot than his normal shirts, and he wore a pair of dark brown cargo pants.

It was early morning, the shadows dark and deep. It was clicking.

Laxus was beginning to get bored. There was a soft thumping of footsteps, a brisk pace with wide light steps, it was Ryder.

He walked into the room from down the hall with the stairs. Ryder wore a white button up collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows, and a pair of rich brown shorts that stopped just above his knees. His shirt was loosely tucked in and his hair style didn't change.

"Are you sure you want to leave?"

Laxus sighed and looked away from the ground to the man. He could see concern in the steel gray eyes. It was strange. People didn't worry about him often. "I can't stay. I…"

Raising a hand, Ryder cut Laxus off. "I don't need to know why. Just try not to get yourself killed. I'd hate to have to patch you up again."

Laxus felt his brows plunge down. Normally he would have blown a gasket if anyone interrupted him, but he didn't. He couldn't find a temper in himself to care. "I wasn't that bad of a patient."

Shaking his head, Ryder pulled a loose hair out of his face. "It's not you. It's that idiot Carcillo and Dimitri. They're driving me up the wall. Why can't they just shut up?! How many times does someone ask 'How did you do that' before someone loses it?! Sheesh! They're all children."

Pushing his lips together, Laxus tried not to laugh.

Ryder quirked an eyebrow up in surprise. "You're laughing at me."

Laxus looked away. He didn't want to laugh. "You're imagining things."

All he received was a disbelieving stare. "Are you going to wait for the other two to get up before you leave? If so it'll be a few hours."

Laxus sighed again. He seemed to be doing that a lot lately. "I was, but I need to leave and I can't wait that long." Reaching into his bag hanging from his shoulder, Laxus opened the leather flap. Pulling out the small square magic pager, Laxus walked over and handed it to Ryder.

Ryder looked down at the small square lacrima. It was blue and light with the edges rounded. He had no idea what this was.

"That's a magic pager. If you ever need any help just think of me and it will contact me. You don't need any magic to operate it. If you are in any danger and you can't actually get to it, it will page me as well. The pager has a video message option if you want to give me some info before I come."

Ryder was a little speechless. Why was he being given this? Laxus owed him nothing.

"Consider this a thank you for saving my life. I couldn't think of anything else." Laxus felt awkward. He wasn't used to given people things like this. He could feel the intensity of the steel gray eyes boring into him.

"Thank you."

With that Laxus turned and walked through the living room to the front door. He turned the knob and walked out the beech wood door. He was instantly met by the sun. Pausing before closing the door, Laxus turned back to look at Ryder. "Tell Carcillo and Dimitri bye for me."

Laxus was gone out the door and into the town.


End file.
